Open AccessChloramphenicol Acetylation in Streptomyces
Author(s) -
William V. Shaw,
David A. Hopwood
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of general microbiology/journal of general microbiology
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2059-9323
pISSN - 0022-1287
DOI - 10.1099/00221287-94-1-159
Subject(s) - chloramphenicol , chloramphenicol acetyltransferase , streptomyces coelicolor , acetyltransferase , microbiology and biotechnology , strain (injury) , biology , streptomyces , acetylation , enzyme , streptomycin , mutant , streptomyces griseus , bacteria , mycelium , biochemistry , antibiotics , genetics , reporter gene , gene , botany , gene expression , anatomy
Twenty-one strains of actinomycetes were screened for the presence of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, the enzyme responsible for chloramphenicol resistance in many species of bacteria. Only five strains, belonging to three species, yielded mycelial lysates which catalysed the formation of chloramphenicol acetates in the presence of acetyl-coenzyme A: Streptomyces coelicolor Müller, S. acrimycini, and S. griseus. A mutant of S. acrimycini selected for an increase in resistance to chloramphenicol had a higher specific activity for chloramphenicol acetyltransferase than that found in the parental strain; the enzyme was not inducible in the mutant, the parental strain, or any other strain tested. Chloramphenicol was not acetylated by lysates of a strain of S. venezuelae, the organism known to produce it.