Open AccessPenicillin-binding proteins of multiply antibiotic-resistant South African strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae
Author(s) -
Sonia Zighelboim,
Alexander Tomasz
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.07
H-Index - 259
eISSN - 1070-6283
pISSN - 0066-4804
DOI - 10.1128/aac.17.3.434
Subject(s) - penicillin , microbiology and biotechnology , penicillin binding proteins , streptococcus pneumoniae , streptococcaceae , antibiotics , strain (injury) , microgram , minimum inhibitory concentration , biology , penicillin resistance , streptococcus , bacteria , in vitro , biochemistry , genetics , anatomy
Multiply drug-resistant South African pneumococci (with penicillin minimal inhibitory concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 12.5 microgram/ml) showed several types of major alterations in their penicillin-binding protein (PBP) pattern compared with that of a penicillin-susceptible laboratory strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae (R6; penicillin minimal inhibitory concentration = 0.006 microgram/ml). Genetic transformants were obtained by using South African pneumococcus (strain 8249) deoxyribonucleic acid as donor and the competent cells of strain R6 as recipient; seven classes of transformants with progressively higher penicillin resistance were isolated, and their PBPs were tested. The PBP patterns exhibited a gradual shift from a pattern similar to that of the recipient to a pattern resembling that of the donor strain as the level of penicillin resistance increased.