PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Roychoudhury, S
AU  - Kaiser, R E
AU  - Brems, D N
AU  - Yeh, W K
TI  - Specific interaction between beta-lactams and soluble penicillin-binding protein 2a from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: development of a chromogenic assay.
AID  - 10.1128/AAC.40.9.2075
DP  - 1996 Sep 01
TA  - Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
PG  - 2075--2079
VI  - 40
IP  - 9
4099  - http://aac.asm.org/content/40/9/2075.short
4100  - http://aac.asm.org/content/40/9/2075.full
SO  - Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.1996 Sep 01; 40
AB  - We investigated the enzymatic acylation of penicillin-binding protein 2a (PBP 2a) from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by beta-lactams. Using a purified, soluble form of the protein (PBP 2a'), we observed beta-lactam-induced in vitro precipitation following first-order kinetics with respect to protein concentration. We used electrospray mass ionization spectrometry to show that the protein precipitate predominantly contained PBP 2a', with the beta-lactam bound to it in a 1:1 molar ratio. Using nitrocefin, a chromogenic beta-lactam, we confirmed the correlation between PBP 2a' precipitation and its beta-lactam-dependent enzymatic acylation by monitoring the absorbance associated with the precipitate. Finally, dissolving the precipitate in urea, we developed a simple in vitro chromogenic assay to monitor beta-lactam-dependent enzymatic acylation of PBP 2a'. This assay represents a significant improvement over the traditional radioactive penicillin-binding assay.