Target-Based Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli to NBTI 5463, a Novel Bacterial Type II Topoisomerase Inhibitor

In a previous report (T. J. Dougherty, A. Nayar, J. V. Newman, S. Hopkins, G. G. Stone, M. Johnstone, A. B. Shapiro, M. Cronin, F. Reck, and D. E. Ehmann, Antimicrob Agents Chemother 58:2657–2664, 2014), a novel bacterial type II topoisomerase inhibitor, NBTI 5463, with activity against Gram-negative pathogens was described. First-step resistance mutations inPseudomonas aeruginosa arose exclusively in thenfxB gene, a regulator of the MexCD-OprJ efflux pump system. The present report describes further resistance studies with NBTI 5463 in bothPseudomonas aeruginosa andEscherichia coli . Second-step mutations inP. aeruginosa arose at aspartate 82 of the gyrase A subunit and led to 4- to 8-fold increases in the MIC over those seen in the parental strain with a first-stepnfxB efflux mutation. A third-step mutant showed additional GyrA changes, with no changes in topoisomerase IV. Despite repeated efforts, resistance mutations could not be selected inE. coli . Genetic introduction of the Asp82 mutations observed inP. aeruginosa did not significantly increase the NBTI MIC inE. coli . However, with the aspartate 82 mutation present, it was possible to select second-step mutations in topoisomerase IV that did lead to MIC increases of 16- and 128-fold. As with the gyrase aspartate 82 mutation, the mutations in topoisomerase IV did not by themselves raise the NBTI MIC inE. coli . Only the presence of mutations in both targets ofE. coli led to an increase in NBTI MIC values. This represents a demonstration of the value of balanced dual-target activity in mitigating resistance development.