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Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1977 April; 11(4): 661-668
Copyright © 1977 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Macrolide Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus: Induction of Macrolide-Resistant Protein Synthesis

The Lilly Research Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana 46206

ABSTRACT

Induction of resistance to macrolide-, lincosamide-, and streptogramin B-type antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus was studied by monitoring the appearance of erythromycin A (EM)-resistant [¹⁴C]leucine incorporation. Examination of the induction process revealed saturation kinetics and a time course much like that reported for penicillinase in gram-positive bacteria. Induction kinetics in exponentially growing cells were sigmoidal and appeared to reach a maximum and constant rate when growth reached stationary phase. Since the induction of EM-resistant colony-forming ability was complete within 60 min, ribosome modification cannot be limited to a fraction of the population and must occur in essentially every cell. However, EM-resistant growth was expressed in cells where less than half the [¹⁴C]leucine-incorporating activity was resistant to EM. This suggests that resistance requires that only a threshold level of ribosome modification be exceeded and that, once exceeded, resistance is dominant to sensitivity.

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