Recruitment of a penicillin-binding protein gene from Neisseria flavescens during the emergence of penicillin resistance in Neisseria meningitidis.
- 1 November 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 86 (22), 8988-8992
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.86.22.8988
Abstract
Non-.beta.-lactamase-producing, penicillin-resistant strains of Neisseria meningitidis produce altered forms of penicillin-binding protein 2 that have decreased affinity for penicillin. The sequence of the penicillin-binding protein 2 gene (penA) from a penicillin-resistant strain of N. meningitidis was compared to the sequence of the same gene from penicillin-sensitive strains and from penicillin-sensitive and penicillin-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The penA genes from penicillin-sensitive strains of N. gonorrhoeae and N. meningitidis were 98% identical. The gene from the penicillin-resisant strain of N. meningitidis consisted of regions that were almost identical to the corresponding regions in the penicillin-sensitive strains (< 0.2% divergence) and two regions that were very different from them (.apprxeq. 22% divergence). The two blocks of altered sequence have arisen by the replacement of meningococcal sequences with the corresponding regions from the penA gene of Neisseria flavescens and result in an altered form of penicillin-binding protein 2 that contains 44 amino acid substitutions and 1 amino acid insertion compared to penicillin-binding protein 2 of penicillin-sensitive strains of N. meningitidis. A similar introduction of part of the penA gene of N. flavescens, or a very similar commensal Neisseria species, appears to have occurred independently during the development of altered penA genes in non-.beta.-lactamase-producing penicillin-resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae.Keywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Horizontal transfer of penicillin-binding protein genes in penicillin-resistant clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1989
- PENICILLIN-INSENSITIVE MENINGOCOCCI IN THE UKThe Lancet, 1988
- Hybrid penicillin-binding proteins in penicillin-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeaeNature, 1988
- Primer-Directed Enzymatic Amplification of DNA with a Thermostable DNA PolymeraseScience, 1988
- PENICILLIN-RESISTANT NEISSERIA MENINGITIDIS IN SOUTHERN AFRICAThe Lancet, 1988
- Isolation ofNeisseria meningitidisstrains with increase of penicillin minimal inhibitory concentrationsEpidemiology and Infection, 1987
- Genetics of resistance in a non-beta-lactamase-producing gonococcus with relatively high-level penicillin resistanceAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1986
- Epidemiology of resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeaeJournal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 1986
- Resistance to β-lactam antibiotics by re-modelling the active site of an E. coli penicillin-binding proteinNature, 1985
- Penicillin-binding proteins of penicillin-susceptible and intrinsically resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeaeAntimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 1980