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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 1999, p. 447-453, Vol. 43, No. 3
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

RecA-Mediated Gene Conversion and Aminoglycoside Resistance in Strains Heterozygous for rRNA

Therdsak Prammananan, Peter Sander, Burkhard Springer, and Erik C. Böttger*

Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, 30623 Hannover, Germany

Received 23 July 1998/Returned for modification 2 November 1998/Accepted 14 December 1998

Clinical resistance to aminoglycosides in general is due to enzymatic drug modification. Mutational alterations of the small ribosomal subunit rRNA have recently been found to mediate acquired resistance in bacterial pathogens in vivo. In this study we investigated the effect of 16S rRNA heterozygosity (wild-type [wt] and mutant [mut] operons at position 1408 [1408wt/1408mut]) on aminoglycoside resistance. Using an integrative vector, we introduced a single copy of a mutated rRNA operon (1408 Aright-arrowG) into Mycobacterium smegmatis, which carries two chromosomal wild-type rRNA operons; the resultant transformants exhibited an aminoglycoside-sensitive phenotype. In contrast, introduction of the mutated rRNA operon into an M. smegmatis rrnB knockout strain carrying a single functional chromosomal wild-type rRNA operon resulted in aminoglycoside-resistant transformants. Subsequent analysis by DNA sequencing and RNase protection assays unexpectedly demonstrated a homozygous mutant genotype, rRNAmut/rRNAmut, in the resistant transformants. To investigate whether RecA-mediated gene conversion was responsible for the aminoglycoside-resistant phenotype in the rRNAwt/rRNAmut strains, recA mutant strains were generated by allelic exchange techniques. Transformation of the recA rrnB M. smegmatis mutant strains with an integrative vector expressing a mutated rRNA operon (Escherichia coli position 1408 Aright-arrowG) resulted in transformants with an aminoglycoside-sensitive phenotype. Subsequent analysis showed stable heterozygosity at 16S rRNA position 1408 with a single wild-type allele and a single resistant allele. These results demonstrate that rRNA-mediated mutational resistance to aminoglycosides is recessive.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30623 Hannover, Germany. Phone: (511) 5324348. Fax: (511) 5324366. E-mail: Boettger.Erik{at}Mh-Hannover.de.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, March 1999, p. 447-453, Vol. 43, No. 3
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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