Diversity of bla L1-like genes in Stenotrophomonas species: insights from genome analysis of publicly available genome sequences

ABSTRACT L1 metallo-β-lactamases produced by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia exhibit high diversity. Here, we characterized the genomes of Stenotrophomonas species harboring bla L1-like genes using publicly available genome sequences. Our findings provide evidence that Stenotrophomonas species with bla L1-like genes constitute a complex comprising many species with high genetic diversity, and similarities between bla L1-like genes are lower than those of the genome. This suggests that the diversity of bla L1-like is attributable to species diversity in Stenotrophomonas species harboring bla L1-like and the rapid evolutionary changes in bla L1-like genes.