Production of 16S rRNA methylase has recently drawn attention as a novel aminoglycoside resistance mechanism in pathogenic gram-negative bacteria (1). It confers very-highlevel resistance to all aminoglycosides that are currently available for parenteral formulation. Six distinct genes, rmtA, rmtB, rmtC, rmtD, armA, and npmA, encoding their respective enzymes have been identified in clinical an...

BACKGROUND Aminoglycosides are a group of antimicrobial agents still the most commonly used in the treatment of life-threatening bacterial infections in human and animals. The emergence and spread of 16S rRNA methylases, which confer high-level resistance to the majority of clinically relevant aminoglycosides, constitute a major public health concern. OBJECTIVES Our goal was to evaluate the d...

Proteus mirabilis ARS68, which demonstrated a very high level of resistance to various aminoglycosides, was isolated in 2003 from an inpatient in Japan. The aminoglycoside resistance of this strain could not be transferred to recipient strains Escherichia coli CSH-2 and E. coli HB101 by a general conjugation experiment, but E. coli DH5alpha was successfully transformed by electroporation with t...

The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism underlying the drug resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii toward aminoglycosides. A total of 32 A. baumannii strains were identified by molecular identification and subsequently isolated. The isolates were then amplified by polymerase chain reaction to analyze the 9 aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme genes and 7 16S rRNA methylase genes. Five ...

We examined the distribution of genes of aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes and 16S rRNA methylases in multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii to explore the association of these genes with drug resistance. Strains isolated from clinical specimens were screened using an automatic microbial identification system, and 9 aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme and 6 16S rRNA methylase genes were analyze...

1. Kotra LP, Haddad J, Mobashery S. Aminoglycosides: perspectives on mechanisms of action and resistance and strategies to counter resistance. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2000; 44: 3249–56. 2. Doi Y, Arakawa Y. 16S ribosomal RNA methylation: emerging resistance mechanism against aminoglycosides. Clin Infect Dis 2007; 45: 88–94. 3. Wachino J, Shibayama K, Kurokawa H et al. Novel plasmidmediated ...

The sisomicin-gentamicin resistance methylase gene (sgm) from Micromonospora zionensis (the producer of antibiotic G-52 [6-N-methyl-sisomicin]) encodes an enzyme that modifies 16S rRNA and thereby confers resistance to 4,6-disubstituted deoxystreptamine aminoglycosides. Here, we report that this gene is regulated on the translational level. The Escherichia coli lacZ gene and operon fusion syste...

Sir, Methylation of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) mediated by 16S rRNA methylase, which confers high-level aminoglycoside resistance (MICs .1024 mg/L) in Enterobacteriaceae, has recently emerged as a major medical problem worldwide. Until now, seven plasmid-encoded 16S rRNA methylases, ArmA, RmtA, RmtB, RmtC, RmtD, RmtE and NpmA, have been reported in various clinical Gram-negative isolates in multi...

The aim of this study, was to characterize the extended-spectrum-β-lactamases (ESBLs) producing clinical strains of Escherichia coli isolated between January 2009 and June 2012 from Algerian hospitals and to determine the prevalence of 16S rRNA methylase among them. Sixty-seven ESBL-producers were detected among the 239 isolates included: 52 CTX-M-15-producers, 5 CTX-M-3-producers, 5 CTX-M-1-pr...

The genetic environment of the 16S rRNA methylase gene rmtD was investigated. rmtD was flanked by a novel ISCR motif located downstream of class I integron In163 in the original Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain. rmtD found in Klebsiella pneumoniae appeared to have been mobilized from P. aeruginosa by an IS26-mediated event.