scholarly journals Distribution of the cfiA Gene among Bacteroides fragilis Strains in Japan and Relatedness of cfiA to Imipenem Resistance

1999 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 2808-2810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kikuo Yamazoe ◽  
Naoki Kato ◽  
Haru Kato ◽  
Kaori Tanaka ◽  
Yoshihiro Katagiri ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The cfiA gene, encoding an imipenem-hydrolyzing metallo-β-lactamase produced by Bacteroides fragilis, and insertion-like elements were detected by PCR amplification withB. fragilis strains isolated in Japan. The cfiAgene was found in 1.9 and 4.1% of the imipenem-susceptible B. fragilis isolates collected from 1987 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994, respectively. Insertion-like elements adjacent to thecfiA gene were found in all nine metallo-β-lactamase-producing imipenem-resistant strains tested but not in nine cfiA-positive strains with no detectable metallo-β-lactamase activity.

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 2820-2823 ◽  
Author(s):  
M A Ramsey ◽  
S F Bradley ◽  
C A Kauffman ◽  
T M Morton

Low- and high-level mupirocin resistance have been reported in Staphylococcus aureus. The expression of plasmid-encoded mupA is responsible for high-level mupirocin resistance. Low-level mupirocin-resistant strains do not contain plasmid-encoded mupA, and a chromosomal location for this gene has not previously been reported. We examined high- and low-level mupirocin-resistant S. aureus strains to determine if mupA was present on the chromosome of low-level-resistant isolates. Southern blot analysis of DNA from four mupirocin-resistant strains identified mupA in both high- and low-level mupirocin-resistant strains. Low-level mupirocin-resistant strains contained a copy of mupA on the chromosome, while the high-level mupirocin-resistant isolate contained a copy of the gene on the plasmid. PCR amplification of genomic DNA from each mupirocin-resistant strain resulted in a 1.65-kb fragment, the predicted product from the intragenic mupA primers. This is the first report of a chromosomal location for the mupA gene conferring low-level mupirocin resistance.


2009 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Sánchez-Céspedes ◽  
Maria José Figueras ◽  
Carmen Aspiroz ◽  
Maria José Aldea ◽  
Miguel Toledo ◽  
...  

Several imipenem-susceptible and -resistant Aeromonas veronii biovar sobria isolates with different morphologies and antimicrobial susceptibilities recovered from bile samples of a patient with cholangitis were analysed. These isolates belonged to the same clone and the imipenem-resistant strains showed overexpression of the imiS gene, encoding a chromosomal carbapenemase. These results should make clinicians aware of the possible emergence of multidrug-resistant A. veronii biovar sobria, perhaps as a consequence of previous treatment of a urinary tract infection with amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid.


2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1343-1348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisakazu Yano ◽  
Akio Kuga ◽  
Ryoichi Okamoto ◽  
Hidero Kitasato ◽  
Toshimitsu Kobayashi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In 1996, Serratia marcescens KU3838 was isolated from the urine of a patient with a urinary tract infection at a hospital in northern Japan and was found to contain the plasmid pKU501. Previously, we determined that pKU501 carries bla IMP and the genes for TEM-1-type β-lactamases as well as producing both types of β-lactamases (H. Yano, A. Kuga, K. Irinoda, R. Okamoto, T. Kobayashi, and M. Inoue, J. Antibiot. 52:1135–1139, 1999). pKU502 is a recombinant plasmid that contains a 1.5-kb DNA fragment, including the metallo-β-lactamase gene, and is obtained by PCR amplification of pKU501. The sequence of the metallo-β-lactamase gene in pKU502 was determined and revealed that this metallo-β-lactamase gene differed from the gene encoding IMP-1 by one point mutation, leading to one amino acid substitution: 640-A in the base sequence of the IMP-1 gene was replaced by G, and Ser-196 was replaced by Gly in the mature enzyme. This enzyme was designated IMP-6. The strains that produced IMP-6 were resistant to carbapenems. The MICs of panipenem and especially meropenem were higher than the MIC of imipenem for these strains. The k cat/Km value of IMP-6 was about sevenfold higher against meropenem than against imipenem, although the MIC of meropenem for KU1917, which produced IMP-1, was lower than that of imipenem, and the MIC of panipenem was equal to that of imipenem. These results support the hypothesis that IMP-6 has extended substrate profiles against carbapenems. However, the activity of IMP-6 was very low against penicillin G and piperacillin. These results suggest that IMP-6 acquired high activity against carbapenems, especially meropenem, via the point mutation but in the process lost activity against penicillins. Although IMP-6 has reduced activity against penicillins due to this point mutation, pKU501 confers resistance to a variety of antimicrobial agents because it also produces TEM-1-type enzyme.


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 2348-2360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen K Merritt ◽  
Kevin M Bradley ◽  
Daniel Hutter ◽  
Mariko F Matsuura ◽  
Diane J Rowold ◽  
...  

Background: Many synthetic biologists seek to increase the degree of autonomy in the assembly of long DNA (L-DNA) constructs from short synthetic DNA fragments, which are today quite inexpensive because of automated solid-phase synthesis. However, the low information density of DNA built from just four nucleotide “letters”, the presence of strong (G:C) and weak (A:T) nucleobase pairs, the non-canonical folded structures that compete with Watson–Crick pairing, and other features intrinsic to natural DNA, generally prevent the autonomous assembly of short single-stranded oligonucleotides greater than a dozen or so. Results: We describe a new strategy to autonomously assemble L-DNA constructs from fragments of synthetic single-stranded DNA. This strategy uses an artificially expanded genetic information system (AEGIS) that adds nucleotides to the four (G, A, C, and T) found in standard DNA by shuffling hydrogen-bonding units on the nucleobases, all while retaining the overall Watson–Crick base-pairing geometry. The added information density allows larger numbers of synthetic fragments to self-assemble without off-target hybridization, hairpin formation, and non-canonical folding interactions. The AEGIS pairs are then converted into standard pairs to produce a fully natural L-DNA product. Here, we report the autonomous assembly of a gene encoding kanamycin resistance using this strategy. Synthetic fragments were built from a six-letter alphabet having two AEGIS components, 5-methyl-2’-deoxyisocytidine and 2’-deoxyisoguanosine (respectively S and B), at their overlapping ends. Gaps in the overlapped assembly were then filled in using DNA polymerases, and the nicks were sealed by ligase. The S:B pairs in the ligated construct were then converted to T:A pairs during PCR amplification. When cloned into a plasmid, the product was shown to make Escherichia coli resistant to kanamycin. A parallel study that attempted to assemble similarly sized genes with optimally designed standard nucleotides lacking AEGIS components gave successful assemblies of up to 16 fragments, but generally failed when larger autonomous assemblies were attempted. Conclusion: AEGIS nucleotides, by increasing the information density of DNA, allow larger numbers of DNA fragments to autonomously self-assemble into large DNA constructs. This technology can therefore increase the size of DNA constructs that might be used in synthetic biology.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
SESANTI BASUKI ◽  
NURHAJATI AA MATTJIK ◽  
SUWARSO SUWARSO ◽  
DESTA WIRNAS ◽  
SUDARSONO SUDARSONO

<p>ABSTRAK</p><p>Upaya untuk menurunkan kandungan nikotin merupakan salah satuprioritas utama penelitian tembakau. Nikotin adalah senyawa alkaloidutama berpotensi dikonversi menjadi senyawa nor-nikotin yang bersifatkarsinogen. Gen PMT sebagai penyandi enzim putresin n-metiltransferase(PMT) dan gen QPT - penyandi enzim quinolinat fosforibosiltransferase(QPT) merupakan dua gen kunci yang berperan penting pada proses bio-sintesis nikotin. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengisolasi potongan genPMT dan QPT asal tembakau lokal Indonesia, mengkarakterisasi danmenganalisis runutan DNA-nya. Tahapan penelitian dimulai dengan me-rancang primer degenerate berdasarkan informasi yang ada di pangkalandata Bank Gen NCBI (National Centre for Biotechnology Information),mengamplifikasi PCR menggunakan templat DNA genomik tembakaulokal cv. Sindoro1, mengklon potongan DNA hasil PCR dan menentukanrunutan DNA-nya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan dari dua belas pasangprimer degenerate yang dirancang, hanya dua pasang primer yang meng-hasilkan potongan DNA hasil amplifikasi PCR, yaitu pasangan primerPMt-7 (F &amp; R) untuk gen PMT dan primer QPt-3 (F &amp; R) untuk gen QPT.Setelah dilakukan penentuan runutan DNA-nya, amplikon yang didapatdari hasil PCR dengan pasangan primer PMt-7 sebesar 1418 bp, sedangkanuntuk primer QPt-3 sebesar 205 bp. Runutan DNA gen PMT dan gen QPTasal tembakau lokal cv. Sindoro1 mempunyai tingkat kesamaan yang ting-gi dengan gen PMT dan gen QPT asal tembakau lainnya yang ada dipangkalan data Bank Gen NCBI.</p><p>Kata kunci : Gen PMT, gen QPT, lintasan biosintesis nikotin, perunutanDNA, amplifikasi PCR, primer degenerate</p><p>ABSTRACT</p><p>Isolation of Genes encoding Putrescine N-Methyl-transferase and Quinolinat Phosphoribosyl transferasederived from Temanggung Tobacco Cultivar (Nicotianatabacum)</p><p>Reduction of nicotine content is one of the major objective intobacco research. Nicotine is the main alcaloid compound that potentiallycould be converted into a carcinogenic compound (nor-nicotine). The PMTgene encoding putrescine N-methyl transferase (PMT) and the QPT gene -encoding quinolinate phosphoribosyl transferase (QPT) are the two keyenzymes involved in nicotine biosynthesis. The objectives of this researchwere to isolate PMT and QPT gene fragments originated from Indonesianlocal tobacco, to characterize, and to analyze their DNA sequences. Theresearch activities included: degenerate primer design based oninformation available in the GenBank DNA Database NCBI (NationalCentre for Biotechnology Information), PCR amplification usingdegenerate primer and genomic DNA template of a local tobacco cv.Sindoro1, clone the PCR amplified products, and determine their DNAnucleotide sequences. Results of the experiment indicated that from 12degenerate primer pairs synthesized, only two were able to yield positivePCR amplified products. These primer pairs were PMt-7 (F &amp; R primers)for PMT and QPt-3 (F &amp; R primers) for QPT. After DNA sequencing, theamplified DNA product amplified using PMt-7 degenerate primer pairswere 1418 bp, while that using QPt-3 primer pairs were only 205 bp.Nucleotide sequences of PMT or QPT gene fragments originated fromlocal tobacco cv. Sindoro1 showed a high nucleotide sequences identity ascompared to that of the respective genes from other tobacco species thatwere available in the GenBank DNA Database NCBI.</p><p>Key words: PMT gene, QPT gene, nicotine biosynthetic pathways, DNAsequencing, PCR amplification, degenerate primer</p>


2003 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 578-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Rudi ◽  
Janneke Treimo ◽  
Hilde Nissen ◽  
Gerd Vegarud

Analyses of complex microbial communities are becoming increasingly important. Bottlenecks in these analyses, however, are the tools to actually describe the biodiversity. Novel protocols for DNA array-based analyses of microbial communities are presented. In these protocols, the specificity obtained by sequence-specific labeling of DNA probes is combined with the possibility of detecting several different probes simultaneously by DNA array hybridization. The gene encoding 16S ribosomal RNA was chosen as the target in these analyses. This gene contains both universally conserved regions and regions with relatively high variability. The universally conserved regions are used for PCR amplification primers, while the variable regions are used for the specific probes. Protocols are presented for DNA purification, probe construction, probe labeling, and DNA array hybridizations.


Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preeda Phothaworn ◽  
Matthew Dunne ◽  
Rattaya Supokaivanich ◽  
Catherine Ong ◽  
Jiali Lim ◽  
...  

Despite a wealth of knowledge on Salmonella phages worldwide, little is known about poultry-associated Salmonella phages from Thailand. Here, we isolated 108 phages from Thai poultry farms that infect Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Phages STm101 and STm118 were identified as temperate Siphoviridae phages. Genome sequencing and analyses revealed these phages share approximately 96% nucleotide sequence similarity to phage SPN19, a member of the Chi-like virus genus. PCR amplification of the gene encoding capsid protein E of the Chi-like phage was positive for 50% of phage isolates, suggesting a predominance of this phage type among the sampled poultry farms. In addition to the flagella, two phages required the lipopolysaccharide to infect and lyse Salmonella. Furthermore, phylogenomic analysis demonstrated that phages STm101 and STm118 formed a monophyletic clade with phages isolated from Western countries, but not from closer isolated phages from Korea. However, further investigation and more phage isolates are required to investigate possible causes for this geographic distribution.


2013 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 421
Author(s):  
Robert A. B. Mason ◽  
Catherine Price ◽  
Walter E. Boles ◽  
Karen-Anne Gray ◽  
Edwina Rickard ◽  
...  

The bush stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius Latham), a ground-nesting nocturnal bird, is endangered in southern Australia due to habitat modification and introduced predators. To provide tools for conservation, ecological and behavioural studies, we isolated variable microsatellite repeat sequences and designed primers for PCR amplification in this species. Primer pairs were developed and levels of diversity were assessed for eight microsatellite loci, including one locus linked to the gene encoding Microtubule-Associated Protein 2, a protein important for behavioural imprinting in birds, and one sex-linked locus. Isolated loci contained allelic diversity of between 5 and 17 alleles.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yann Fichou ◽  
Isabelle Berlivet ◽  
Gaëlle Richard ◽  
Christophe Tournamille ◽  
Lilian Castilho ◽  
...  

Background: In the novel era of blood group genomics, (re-)defining reference gene/allele sequences of blood group genes has become an important goal to achieve, both for diagnostic and research purposes. As novel potent sequencing technologies are available, we thought to investigate the variability encountered in the three most common alleles of ACKR1, the gene encoding the clinically relevant Duffy antigens, at the haplotype level by a long-read sequencing approach. Materials and Methods: After long-range PCR amplification spanning the whole ACKR1 gene locus (∼2.5 kilobases), amplicons generated from 81 samples with known genotypes were sequenced in a single read by using the Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) single molecule, real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology. Results: High-quality sequencing reads were obtained for the 162 alleles (accuracy >0.999). Twenty-two nucleotide variations reported in databases were identified, defining 19 haplotypes: four, eight, and seven haplotypes in 46 ACKR1*01, 63 ACKR1*02, and 53 ACKR1*02N.01 alleles, respectively. Discussion: Overall, we have defined a subset of reference alleles by third-generation (long-read) sequencing. This technology, which provides a “longitudinal” overview of the loci of interest (several thousand base pairs) and is complementary to the second-generation (short-read) next-generation sequencing technology, is of critical interest for resolving novel, rare, and null alleles.


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