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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 2000, p. 355-361, Vol. 44, No. 2
Department of Medical Microbiology,
University of the Witwatersrand, and the South African Institute
for Medical Research, Johannesburg, South
Africa,1 and Molecular Chemotherapy,
Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Edinburgh,
Edinburgh, United Kingdom2
Received 11 June 1999/Returned for modification 23 August
1999/Accepted 3 November 1999
In a previous survey of 357 trimethoprim-resistant isolates of
aerobic gram-negative bacteria from commensal fecal flora, hybridization experiments showed that 25% (90 of 357) of the isolates failed to hybridize to specific oligonucleotide probes for
dihydrofolate reductase types 1, 2b, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12. Subsequent cloning and sequencing of a plasmid-borne trimethoprim
resistance gene from one of these isolates revealed a new dihydrofolate
reductase gene, dfr13, which occurred as a cassette
integrated in a site-specific manner in a class 1 integron. The gene
product shared 84% amino acid identity with dfr12 and
exhibited a trimethoprim inhibition profile similar to that of
dfr12. Gene probing experiments with an oligonucleotide
probe specific for this gene showed that 12.3% (44 of 357) of the
isolates which did not hybridize to probes for other dihydrofolate
reductases hybridized to this probe. Immediately downstream of
dfr13, a new cassette, an aminoglycoside resistance gene of
the class AADA [ANT(3")(9)-I], which encodes
streptomycin-spectinomycin resistance, was identified. This gene shares
57% identity with the consensus aadA1
(ant(3")-Ia) and has been called aadA4
(ant(3")-Id). The 3' end of the aadA4 cassette was
truncated by IS26, which was contiguous with a truncated
form of Tn3. On the same plasmid, pUK2381, a second copy of
IS26 was associated with sul2, which suggests
that both integrase and transposase activities have played major roles
in the arrangement and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes
dfr13, aadA4, blaTEM-1,
and sul2.
0066-4804/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
New Gene Cassettes for Trimethoprim Resistance,
dfr13, and Streptomycin-Spectinomycin Resistance,
aadA4, Inserted on a Class 1 Integron
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Medical Microbiology, SAIMR, P.O. Box 1038, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa. Phone: 27 11 489 9335. Fax: 27 11 489 9332. E-mail:
petera{at}mail.saimr.wits.ac.za.
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