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Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. doi:10.1128/AAC.00714-07
Copyright (c) 2007, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Mosaic tetracycline resistance genes and their flanking regions in Bifidobacterium thermophilum and Lactobacillus johnsonii

RIKILT - Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen UR, Bornsesteeg 45, NL-6708PD Wageningen, The Netherlands; Department of Food Science and Technology, Division of Food Microbiology and Hygiene, BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Gregor Mendel Strasse 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria; Instituto de Productos Lácteos de Asturias, CSIC, Carretera de Infiesto s/n, 33300-Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: angela.vanhoek{at}wur.nl.

	Abstract

For the first time mosaic tetracycline resistance genes were identified in Lactobacillus johnsonii and in Bifidobacterium thermophilum strains. The L. johnsonii strain investigated contains a complex hybrid gene, tet(O/W/32/O/W/O), whereas the five bifidobacteria strains possess two different mosaic tet genes, i. e. tet(W/32/O) and tet(O/W). As reported by others, the crossover points of the mosaic tet gene segments were found at similar positions within the genes suggesting hot spot for recombination. Analysis of the sequences flanking these genes revealed that the upstream part corresponds with the 5' end of the mosaic ORF. In contrast, the downstream region was shown to be more variable. Surprisingly, in one of the B. thermophilum strains a third tet determinant was identified, coding for the efflux pump Tet(L).