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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 1999, p. 240-245, Vol. 43, No. 2
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

glmM Operon and Methicillin-Resistant glmM Suppressor Mutants in Staphylococcus aureus

Philipp Glanzmann,¹ John Gustafson,^1, Hithoshi Komatsuzawa,² Kouji Ohta,² and Brigitte Berger-Bächi^1,*

Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Zürich, CH-8028 Zürich, Switzerland,¹ and Department of Microbiology, Hiroshima University School of Dentistry, Kasumi 1-2-3, Minami-ku, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima 734-8553, Japan²

Received 10 August 1998/Returned for modification 2 October 1998/Accepted 12 November 1998

The Staphylococcus aureus phosphoglucosamine mutase gene glmM was shown to be the last gene of a three-cistron operon, orf1-orf2-glmM. One transcriptional start was identified upstream of orf1, and a second start producing a monocistronic transcript was identified upstream of glmM. Disruption of glmM abolished GlmM production, decreased methicillin resistance, and resulted in teicoplanin hypersusceptibility without affecting the production of the endogenous penicillin-binding proteins and PBP 2'. Complementation of the glmM mutation by the complete glmM operon restored both methicillin resistance and normal teicoplanin susceptibility. In contrast, a highly methicillin-resistant suppressor mutant obtained by selection for growth in the presence of methicillin remained GlmM deficient and teicoplanin hypersusceptible. The suppressor mutation was not linked to the glmM operon but was correlated with decreased autolysis and increased production of a 49-kDa protein, suggesting that there is an alternative pathway for glucosamine-1-phosphate synthesis in S. aureus.

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^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Zürich, Gloriastr. 32, P.O. Box, CH8028 Zürich, Switzerland. Phone: 41-1 634 26 50. Fax: 41-1 634 49 06. E-mail: bberger{at}immv.unizh.ch.

Present address: Curtin University of Technology, P.O. Box U1987, Perth 6001, Western Australia.

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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, February 1999, p. 240-245, Vol. 43, No. 2
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

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