scholarly journals The role of penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP2) in the cephalosporin susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and the need for consensus in naming of PBP2

2012 ◽  
Vol 111 (12) ◽  
pp. 665-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun-Chen Chen ◽  
Kun-Yen Lin ◽  
Shu-Ying Li
2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 3744-3749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Ameyama ◽  
Shoichi Onodera ◽  
Masahiro Takahata ◽  
Shinzaburo Minami ◽  
Nobuko Maki ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains with reduced susceptibility to cefixime (MICs, 0.25 to 0.5 μg/ml) were isolated from male urethritis patients in Tokyo, Japan, in 2000 and 2001. The resistance to cephems including cefixime and penicillin was transferred to a susceptible recipient, N. gonorrhoeae ATCC 19424, by transformation of the penicillin-binding protein 2 gene (penA) that had been amplified by PCR from a strain with reduced susceptibility to cefixime (MIC, 0.5 μg/ml). The sequences of penA in the strains with reduced susceptibilities to cefixime were different from those of other susceptible isolates and did not correspond to the reported N. gonorrhoeae penA gene sequences. Some regions in the transpeptidase-encoding domain in this penA gene were similar to those in the penA genes of Neisseria perflava (N. sicca), Neisseria cinerea, Neisseria flavescens, and Neisseria meningitidis. These results showed that a mosaic-like structure in the penA gene conferred reductions in the levels of susceptibility of N. gonorrhoeae to cephems and penicillin in a manner similar to that found for N. meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae.


2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (11) ◽  
pp. 3638-3645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sho Takahata ◽  
Nami Senju ◽  
Yumi Osaki ◽  
Takuji Yoshida ◽  
Takashi Ida

ABSTRACT The molecular mechanisms of reduced susceptibility to cefixime in clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, particularly amino acid substitutions in mosaic penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP2), were examined. The complete sequence of ponA, penA, and por genes, encoding, respectively, PBP1, PBP2, and porin, were determined for 58 strains isolated in 2002 from Japan. Replacement of leucine 421 by proline in PBP1 and the mosaic-like structure of PBP2 were detected in 48 strains (82.8%) and 28 strains (48.3%), respectively. The presence of mosaic PBP2 was the main cause of the elevated cefixime MIC (4- to 64-fold). In order to identify the mutations responsible for the reduced susceptibility to cefixime in isolates with mosaic PBP2, penA genes with various mutations were transferred to a susceptible strain by genetic transformation. The susceptibility of partial recombinants and site-directed mutants revealed that the replacement of glycine 545 by serine (G545S) was the primary mutation, which led to a two- to fourfold increase in resistance to cephems. Replacement of isoleucine 312 by methionine (I312M) and valine 316 by threonine (V316T), in the presence of the G545S mutation, reduced susceptibility to cefixime, ceftibuten, and cefpodoxime by an additional fourfold. Therefore, three mutations (G545S, I312M, and V316T) in mosaic PBP2 were identified as the amino acid substitutions responsible for reduced susceptibility to cefixime in N. gonorrhoeae.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 3934-3941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansjürg Engel ◽  
Moana Mika ◽  
Dalia Denapaite ◽  
Regine Hakenbeck ◽  
Kathrin Mühlemann ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHeteroresistance to penicillin inStreptococcus pneumoniaeis the ability of subpopulations to grow at a higher antibiotic concentration than expected from the MIC. This may render conventional resistance testing unreliable and lead to therapeutic failure. We investigated the role of the primary β-lactam resistance determinants, penicillin-binding protein 2b (PBP2b) and PBP2x, and the secondary resistance determinant PBP1a in heteroresistance to penicillin. Transformants containing PBP genes from the heteroresistant strain Spain23F2349in the nonheteroresistant strain R6 background were tested for heteroresistance by population analysis profiling (PAP). We found thatpbp2x, but notpbp2borpbp1aalone, conferred heteroresistance to R6. However, a change ofpbp2xexpression was not observed, and therefore, expression does not correlate with an increased proportion of resistant subpopulations. In addition, the influence of the CiaRH system, mediating PBP-independent β-lactam resistance, was assessed by PAP onciaRdisruption mutants but revealed no heteroresistant phenotype. We also showed that the highly resistant subpopulations (HOM*) of transformants containing low-affinitypbp2xundergo an increase in resistance upon selection on penicillin plates that partially reverts after passaging on selection-free medium. Shotgun proteomic analysis showed an upregulation of phosphate ABC transporter subunit proteins encoded bypstS,phoU,pstB, andpstCin these highly resistant subpopulations. In conclusion, the presence of low-affinitypbp2xenables certain pneumococcal colonies to survive in the presence of β-lactams. Upregulation of phosphate ABC transporter genes may represent a reversible adaptation to antibiotic stress.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 492-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Jeanine Abrams ◽  
Robert D. Kirkcaldy ◽  
Kevin Pettus ◽  
Jan L. Fox ◽  
Grace Kubin ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1745-1748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genshi Zhao ◽  
Timothy I. Meier ◽  
Joann Hoskins ◽  
Kelly A. McAllister

ABSTRACT To further understand the role of penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP 2a) of Streptococcus pneumoniae in penicillin resistance, we confirmed the identity of the protein as PBP 2a. The PBP 2a protein migrated electrophoretically to a position corresponding to that of PBP 2x, PBP 2a, and PBP 2b of S. pneumoniae and was absent in a pbp2ainsertional mutant of S. pneumoniae. We found that the affinities of PBP 2a for penicillins were lower than for cephalosporins and a carbapenem. When compared with other S. pneumoniae PBPs, PBP 2a exhibited lower affinities for β-lactam antibiotics, especially penicillins. Therefore, PBP 2a is a low-affinity PBP for β-lactam antibiotics in S. pneumoniae.


1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (21) ◽  
pp. 5704-5711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara W. Lazar ◽  
Marta Almirón ◽  
Antonio Tormo ◽  
Roberto Kolter

ABSTRACT SurA is a periplasmic peptidyl-prolyl isomerase required for the efficient folding of extracytoplasmic proteins. Although thesurA gene had been identified in a screen for mutants that failed to survive in stationary phase, the role played by SurA in stationary-phase survival remained unknown. The results presented here demonstrate that the survival defect of surA mutants is due to their inability to grow at elevated pH in the absence of ςS. When cultures of Escherichia coli were grown in peptide-rich Luria-Bertani medium, the majority of the cells lost viability during the first two to three days of incubation in stationary phase as the pH rose to pH 9. At this time the surviving cells resumed growth. In cultures of surA rpoS double mutants the survivors lysed as they attempted to resume growth at the elevated pH. Cells lacking penicillin binding protein 3 and ςS had a survival defect similar to that of surA rpoS double mutants, suggesting that SurA foldase activity is important for the proper assembly of the cell wall-synthesizing apparatus.


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