Open AccessTransfer of amikacin resistance by closely related plasmids in members of the family Enterobacteriaceae isolated in Chile
Author(s) -
Guy Tran Van Nhieu,
F. W. Goldstein,
Maria Eugênia Bresolin Pinto,
Jacqu̧es Acar,
E. Collatz
Publication year - 1986
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.29.5.833
Subject(s) - amikacin , enterobacter cloacae , citrobacter freundii , microbiology and biotechnology , enterobacteriaceae , plasmid , klebsiella pneumoniae , serratia marcescens , serratia , biology , aminoglycoside , escherichia coli , antibiotics , genetics , bacteria , dna , gene , pseudomonas
During a 9-month period when amikacin was the sole aminoglycoside used clinically in a hospital in Santiago, Chile, resistance to amikacin and other antibiotics was encountered in 42 strains of the family Enterobacteriaceae, including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter cloacae, Serratia marcescens, and Serratia liquefaciens. Amikacin resistance was transferable by conjugation and carried by IncM plasmids ranging in size from ca. 48.4 to 58.1 kilobase pairs. The plasmids had ca. 70 to 80% of their structure in common, as judged after digestion with restriction endonucleases. The resistance was mediated by a 6' aminoglycoside acetyltransferase. We conclude that selective pressure has favored the dissemination of a wide-host-range amikacin resistance plasmid and its derivatives.