scholarly journals Novel Mechanism of Antibiotic Resistance Originating in Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus

2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 428-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longzhu Cui ◽  
Akira Iwamoto ◽  
Jian-Qi Lian ◽  
Hui-min Neoh ◽  
Toshiki Maruyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Cytoplasmic Membrane ◽  
Resistance Mechanism ◽  
Wall Thickening ◽  
Gram Positive ◽  
Peptidoglycan Biosynthesis ◽  
Significant Public Health

ABSTRACT As an aggressive pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus poses a significant public health threat and is becoming increasingly resistant to currently available antibiotics, including vancomycin, the drug of last resort for gram-positive bacterial infections. S. aureus with intermediate levels of resistance to vancomycin (vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus [VISA]) was first identified in 1996. The resistance mechanism of VISA, however, has not yet been clarified. We have previously shown that cell wall thickening is a common feature of VISA, and we have proposed that a thickened cell wall is a phenotypic determinant for vancomycin resistance in VISA (L. Cui, X. Ma, K. Sato, et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 41:5-14, 2003). Here we show the occurrence of an anomalous diffusion of vancomycin through the VISA cell wall, which is caused by clogging of the cell wall with vancomycin itself. A series of experiments demonstrates that the thickened cell wall of VISA could protect ongoing peptidoglycan biosynthesis in the cytoplasmic membrane from vancomycin inhibition, allowing the cells to continue producing nascent cell wall peptidoglycan and thus making the cells resistant to vancomycin. We conclude that the cooperative effect of the clogging and cell wall thickening enables VISA to prevent vancomycin from reaching its true target in the cytoplasmic membrane, exhibiting a new class of antibiotic resistance in gram-positive pathogens.

scholarly journals Antibacterial Effect of Carbosilane Metallodendrimers in Planktonic Cells of Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm

Biomolecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celia Llamazares ◽  
Natalia Sanz del Olmo ◽  
Paula Ortega ◽  
Rafael Gómez ◽  
Juan Soliveri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Antibacterial Effect ◽  
Resistance Mechanism ◽  
Planktonic Cells ◽  
Gram Positive ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Gram Negative ◽  
Escherichia Coli Bacteria

Antibiotic resistance is currently one of the main threats to public health security. Biofilm formation is a resistance mechanism that is responsible for most human bacterial infections and requires new and effective therapeutic approaches, such as those provided by nanotechnology. In this work, the antibacterial effect of carbosilane metallodendrimers with different metals (copper(II) and ruthenium(II)), ligands (chloride and nitrate) and generations (generation 0, 1 and 2) has been studied using planktonic Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. Furthermore, the ability of the metallodendrimers to avoid the formation of S. aureus biofilms was also evaluated. The results showed a promising biocide activity in both types of planktonic bacteria, especially for first-generation dendrimers, which arises from the metal complexation to the dendrimer. Cu(II) metallodendrimers require lower concentration than Ru(II) counterpart to inhibit the production of S. aureus biofilms, but none produce hemolysis at the inhibitory concentrations and can be safely used as antibacterial agents. In particular, the first-generation Cu(II) metallodendrimer with nitrate ligands displayed the most promising properties to continue with further studies in both planktonic cells and biofilms.

scholarly journals Mutation-Based Antibiotic Resistance Mechanism in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clinical Isolates

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 420
Author(s):  
Tanveer Ali ◽  
Abdul Basit ◽  
Asad Mustafa Karim ◽  
Jung-Hun Lee ◽  
Jeong-Ho Jeon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Active Site ◽  
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Meca Gene ◽  
Resistance Mechanism ◽  
Ligand Docking ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Allosteric Site ◽  
Methicillin Resistant

β-Lactam antibiotics target penicillin-binding proteins and inhibit the synthesis of peptidoglycan, a crucial step in cell wall biosynthesis. Staphylococcus aureus acquires resistance against β-lactam antibiotics by producing a penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP2a), encoded by the mecA gene. PBP2a participates in peptidoglycan biosynthesis and exhibits a poor affinity towards β-lactam antibiotics. The current study was performed to determine the diversity and the role of missense mutations of PBP2a in the antibiotic resistance mechanism. The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from clinical samples were identified using phenotypic and genotypic techniques. The highest frequency (60%, 18 out of 30) of MRSA was observed in wound specimens. Sequence variation analysis of the mecA gene showed four amino acid substitutions (i.e., E239K, E239R, G246E, and E447K). The E239R mutation was found to be novel. The protein-ligand docking results showed that the E239R mutation in the allosteric site of PBP2a induces conformational changes in the active site and, thus, hinders its interaction with cefoxitin. Therefore, the present report indicates that mutation in the allosteric site of PBP2a provides a more closed active site conformation than wide-type PBP2a and then causes the high-level resistance to cefoxitin.

scholarly journals Phage-Encoded Endolysins

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
Fatma Abdelrahman ◽  
Maheswaran Easwaran ◽  
Oluwasegun I. Daramola ◽  
Samar Ragab ◽  
Stephanie Lynch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Therapeutic Strategies ◽  
Therapeutic Application ◽  
Significant Evidence ◽  
Crucial Information

Due to the global emergence of antibiotic resistance, there has been an increase in research surrounding endolysins as an alternative therapeutic. Endolysins are phage-encoded enzymes, utilized by mature phage virions to hydrolyze the cell wall from within. There is significant evidence that proves the ability of endolysins to degrade the peptidoglycan externally without the assistance of phage. Thus, their incorporation in therapeutic strategies has opened new options for therapeutic application against bacterial infections in the human and veterinary sectors, as well as within the agricultural and biotechnology sectors. While endolysins show promising results within the laboratory, it is important to document their resistance, safety, and immunogenicity for in-vivo application. This review aims to provide new insights into the synergy between endolysins and antibiotics, as well as the formulation of endolysins. Thus, it provides crucial information for clinical trials involving endolysins.

Antibiotic resistance of glycine-resistant variants of Staphylococcus aureus

1968 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 811-812
Author(s):  
Joseph T. Parisi ◽  
William J. Suling
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Antibiotic Resistance ◽  
Cross Resistance ◽  
Cell Wall Synthesis ◽  
Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations

Glycine-resistant variants of Staphylococcus aureus were obtained by successive cultivation of parent strains in increasing concentrations of glycine, and the minimal inhibitory concentrations of glycine of the parents and variants were determined. Although it has been reported that growth in glycine or certain antibiotics causes the accumulation of nucleotides involved in cell wall synthesis, a lack of cross resistance of the variants to some of these antibiotics was observed.

scholarly journals A Staphylococcus aureus clpX Mutant Used as a Unique Screening Tool to Identify Cell Wall Synthesis Inhibitors that Reverse β-Lactam Resistance in MRSA

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristoffer T. Bæk ◽  
Camilla Jensen ◽  
Maya A. Farha ◽  
Tobias K. Nielsen ◽  
Ervin Paknejadi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
High Throughput Screening ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Screening Tool ◽  
Acquired Resistance ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Acid Synthesis ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Cell Wall Synthesis

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bacterial infections world-wide. Staphylococcal infections are preferentially treated with β-lactam antibiotics, however, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains have acquired resistance to this superior class of antibiotics. We have developed a growth-based, high-throughput screening approach that directly identifies cell wall synthesis inhibitors capable of reversing β-lactam resistance in MRSA. The screen is based on the finding that S. aureus mutants lacking the ClpX chaperone grow very poorly at 30°C unless specific steps in teichoic acid synthesis or penicillin binding protein (PBP) activity are inhibited. This property allowed us to exploit the S. aureus clpX mutant as a unique screening tool to rapidly identify biologically active compounds that target cell wall synthesis. We tested a library of ∼50,000 small chemical compounds and searched for compounds that inhibited growth of the wild type while stimulating growth of the clpX mutant. Fifty-eight compounds met these screening criteria, and preliminary tests of 10 compounds identified seven compounds that reverse β-lactam resistance of MRSA as expected for inhibitors of teichoic acid synthesis. The hit compounds are therefore promising candidates for further development as novel combination agents to restore β-lactam efficacy against MRSA.

scholarly journals A Mutation of RNA Polymerase β′ Subunit (RpoC) Converts Heterogeneously Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (hVISA) into “Slow VISA”

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (7) ◽  
pp. 4215-4225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miki Matsuo ◽  
Tomomi Hishinuma ◽  
Yuki Katayama ◽  
Keiichi Hiramatsu
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Stringent Response ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Multicopy Plasmid ◽  
Β Subunit ◽  
Whole Genome Analysis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Peptidoglycan Biosynthesis

ABSTRACTVarious mutations in therpoBgene, which encodes the RNA polymerase β subunit, are associated with increased vancomycin (VAN) resistance in vancomycin-intermediateStaphylococcus aureus(VISA) and heterogeneously VISA (hVISA) strains. We reported thatrpoBmutations are also linked to the expression of the recently found “slow VISA” (sVISA) phenotype (M. Saito, Y. Katayama, T. Hishinuma, A. Iwamoto, Y. Aiba, K Kuwahara-Arai, L. Cui, M. Matsuo, N. Aritaka, and K. Hiramatsu, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 58:5024–5035, 2014,http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/AAC.02470-13). Because RpoC and RpoB are components of RNA polymerase, we examined the effect of therpoC(P440L) mutation on the expression of the sVISA phenotype in the Mu3fdh2*V6-5 strain (V6-5), which was derived from a previously reported hVISA strain with the VISA phenotype. V6-5 had an extremely prolonged doubling time (DT) (72 min) and high vancomycin MIC (16 mg/liter). However, the phenotype of V6-5 was unstable, and the strain frequently reverted to hVISA with concomitant loss of low growth rate, cell wall thickness, and reduced autolysis. Whole-genome sequencing of phenotypic revertant strain V6-5-L1 and comparison with V6-5 revealed a second mutation, F562L, inrpoC. Introduction of the wild-type (WT)rpoCgene using a multicopy plasmid resolved the sVISA phenotype of V6-5, indicating that therpoC(P440L) mutant expressed the sVISA phenotype in hVISA. To investigate the mechanisms of resistance in the sVISA strain, we independently isolated an additional 10 revertants to hVISA and VISA. In subsequent whole-genome analysis, we identified compensatory mutations in the genes of three distinct functional categories: therpoCgene itself as regulatory mutations, peptidoglycan biosynthesis genes, andrelQ, which is involved in the stringent response. It appears that therpoC(P440L) mutation causes the sVISA phenotype by augmenting cell wall peptidoglycan synthesis and through the control of the stringent response.

scholarly journals Telavancin, a Multifunctional Lipoglycopeptide, Disrupts both Cell Wall Synthesis and Cell Membrane Integrity in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

2005 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 1127-1134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah L. Higgins ◽  
Ray Chang ◽  
Dmitri V. Debabov ◽  
Joey Leung ◽  
Terry Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Cell Membrane ◽  
Bactericidal Activity ◽  
Bacterial Cell ◽  
Cell Membrane Potential ◽  
Gram Positive ◽  
Methicillin Resistant ◽  
Bacterial Cell Membrane

ABSTRACTThe emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant gram-positive bacteria represent a serious clinical problem. Telavancin is a novel lipoglycopeptide antibiotic that possesses rapid in vitro bactericidal activity against a broad spectrum of clinically relevant gram-positive pathogens. Here we demonstrate that telavancin's antibacterial activity derives from at least two mechanisms. As observed with vancomycin, telavancin inhibited late-stage peptidoglycan biosynthesis in a substrate-dependent fashion and bound the cell wall, as it did the lipid II surrogate tripeptideN,N′-diacetyl-l-lysinyl-d-alanyl-d-alanine, with high affinity. Telavancin also perturbed bacterial cell membrane potential and permeability. In methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus, telavancin caused rapid, concentration-dependent depolarization of the plasma membrane, increases in permeability, and leakage of cellular ATP and K+. The timing of these changes correlated with rapid , concentration-dependent loss of bacterial viability, suggesting that the early bactericidal activity of telavancin results from dissipation of cell membrane potential and an increase in membrane permeability. Binding and cell fractionation studies provided direct evidence for an interaction of telavancin with the bacterial cell membrane; stronger binding interactions were observed with the bacterial cell wall and cell membrane relative to vancomycin. We suggest that this multifunctional mechanism of action confers advantageous antibacterial properties.

Covalent Sortase A Inhibitor ML346 Prevents Staphylococcus aureus Infection of Galleria mellonella

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang-Na Guan ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Teng Yang ◽  
Ze Dong ◽  
Song Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Galleria Mellonella ◽  
Surface Proteins ◽  
Sortase A ◽  
Gram Positive ◽  
Gram Positive Bacteria ◽  
Aureus Infection ◽  
Cell Wall Peptidoglycan

The housekeeping sortase A (SrtA), a membrane-associated cysteine transpeptidase, is responsible for anchoring surface proteins to the cell wall peptidoglycan in Gram-positive bacteria. This process is essential for the regulation...

The Biology of Bacteria

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armine Sefton
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Genetic Material ◽  
Gram Positive ◽  
Dna And Rna ◽  
Gram Staining ◽  
Genetic Features ◽  
Potential Pathogen ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Micro Organisms

Bacterial infections and infestations of man can be caused by both microbes and non-microbes. Microbes include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. Non-microbes include worms, insects, and arachnids. This chapter concentrates on the basic biology of bacteria. A pathogen is an organism that is able to cause disease in its host and the pathogenicity of any organism is its ability to produce disease. Microbes express their pathogenicity by means of their virulence. The virulence of any pathogen is determined by any of its structural, biochemical, or genetic features that enable it to cause disease in the host. The relationship between a host and a potential pathogen is non- static; the likelihood of any pathogen causing disease in its host depends both on the virulence of the pathogen and the degree of resistance or susceptibility of the host, due mainly to the effectiveness of the host’s defence mechanisms. Two of the main factors influencing a bacteria’s pathogenicity are its ability to invade and it ability to produce toxins—either exotoxins or endotoxins. Bacteria are unicellular prokaryotic micro-organisms, unlike human cells, which are eukaryotic. Fungi, protozoa, helminths, and arthropods are also eukaryotic. Prokaryotic organisms contain both DNA and RNA, but their genetic material exists unbound in the cytoplasm of the cell as, unlike eukaryotic cells, they have no nuclear membrane. Sometimes bacteria contain additional smaller circular DNA molecules, called plasmids. The main features of a bacterium are the cell wall, cytoplasm, and cell membrane. However, some bacteria have additional features such as spores, capsules, fimbriae (pili), and flagellae. The construction of the cell wall is different in different bacteria, but all cell walls contain peptidoglycan. The structure of the cell wall determines the staining characteristics when stained using the Gram stain. Although its first use was over a hundred and fifty years ago, is still the standard method for primary classification of bacteria. Occasionally, bacteria do not have a cell wall. Gram staining of a fixed smear of bacteria is used to separate bacteria into Gram positive or Gram negative, and also to demonstrate their shape. Bacteria with a thick peptidoglycan layer but with no outer membrane stain purple and are called Gram positive.

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