Open AccessStudy of heterogeneity of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) genes in streptococci and enterococci by polymerase chain reaction: characterization of a new CAT determinant
Author(s) -
Patrick Trieu-Cuot,
Gilda de Cespédès,
F Bentorcha,
F Delbos,
Emanuelle Baldo Gaspar,
T Horaud
Publication year - 1993
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.37.12.2593
Subject(s) - chloramphenicol , chloramphenicol acetyltransferase , biology , gene , polymerase chain reaction , microbiology and biotechnology , plasmid , genetics , antibiotics , reporter gene , gene expression
An assay based on the utilization of degenerate primers that enable enzymatic amplification of an internal fragment of cat genes known to be present in gram-positive cocci was developed to identify the genes encoding chloramphenicol resistance in streptococci and enterococci. The functionality of this system was illustrated by the detection of cat genes belonging to four different hydridization classes represented by the staphylococcal genes catpC221, catpC194, catpSCS7, and the clostridial gene catP, and by the characterization of a new streptococcal cat gene designated catS. A sequence related to the clostridial catQ gene, which was present in one streptococcal strain, was not detected by this assay. These results reveal that these six cat genes account for chromosomal-borne chloramphenicol resistance in 12 group A, B, and G streptococci tested. By contrast, only three of these six cat genes (catpC221, catpC194, and catpSCS7) were detected on the 10 enterococcal plasmids studied here that encode resistance to chloramphenicol.