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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, September 2001, p. 2414-2419, Vol. 45, No. 9
Department of Structural Biology, Stanford
University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5126
Received 8 February 2001/Returned for modification 30 March
2001/Accepted 24 May 2001
Aminoglycosides bind to rRNA in the small subunit of the bacterial
ribosome. Mutations in the decoding region of 16S rRNA confer
resistance to specific subsets of aminoglycoside antibiotics. The two
major classes of 2-deoxystreptamine aminoglycosides are the 4,5- and
the 4,6-disubstituted antibiotics. Antibiotics of the 4,5-disubstituted
class include neomycin, paromomycin, and ribostamycin. Gentamicins and
kanamycins belong to the 4,6-disubstituted class of aminoglycosides.
Structural studies indicated the potential importance of position 1406 (Escherichia coli numbering) in the binding of ring III of
the 4,6-disubstituted class of aminoglycosides to 16S rRNA. We have
introduced a U1406-to-A mutation in a plasmid-encoded copy of E. coli 16S rRNA which has been expressed either in a mixture with
wild-type ribosomes or in a strain in which all rRNA is transcribed
from the plasmid-encoded rrn operon. High-level resistance
to many of the 4,6-disubstituted aminoglycosides is observed only when
all the rRNA contains the U1406-to-A mutation. In contrast to the
partial dominance of resistance observed with other mutations in the
decoding region, there is a dominance of sensitivity with the 1406A
mutation. Chemical footprinting experiments indicate that resistance
arises from a reduced affinity of the antibiotic for the rRNA target.
These results demonstrate that although position 1406 is an important
determinant in the binding and action of the 4,6-disubstituted
aminoglycosides, other rRNA mutations that perturb the binding of ring
I of both classes of 2-deoxystreptamine aminoglycosides confer higher
levels of resistance as well as a partial dominance of resistance.
0066-4804/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AAC.45.9.2414-2419.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Aminoglycoside Resistance with Homogeneous and Heterogeneous
Populations of Antibiotic-Resistant Ribosomes
and
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, D105
Fairchild Bldg., Stanford, CA 94305-5126. Phone: (650) 498-4397. Fax:
(650) 723-8464. E-mail: puglisi{at}stanford.edu.
Present address: Department of Molecular Biology, MB33, The Scripps
Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037.
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