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...

Almirante, and A. Pahissa. What is the problem and what is known about it so far? Endocarditis (infection of the inside the heart) is a fatal disease that requires prompt antibiotic therapy. Many different kinds of bacteria can cause endocarditis, including a bacterium known as Enterococcus faecalis (or E. faecalis). The American Heart Association recommends that E. faecalis endocarditis be tre...

For 10 years the 700-bed Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center has conducted a policy of carefully controlled aminoglycoside usage and monitoring of resistance of over 25,000 aerobic and facultative gram-negative bacillary isolates to the aminoglycosides. On two occasions during the 1980s, our experience of introducing amikacin at a high level of usage was associated with a significant re...

The role of intracellular free polyamine (putrescine and spermidine) pools in multiple resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics was investigated among in vitro selected kanamycin-resistant Escherichia coli J53 mutants expressing diminished oligopeptide-binding protein (OppA) levels and/or defective ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity. The results suggest that diminished OppA content, but not...

Three clinical isolates of Haemophilus ducreyi, representing at least two subtypes, were shown to be resistant to streptomycin and kanamycin. They also produced a beta-lactamase and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase and were resistant to tetracycline. In the three strains the resistance to both aminoglycoside antibiotics was encoded by a plasmid of ca. 4.7 kilobases which apparently did not car...

In a recent publication in Cell (Jia et al., 2013), the authors conclude from bioinformatics, genetic, and biochemical analyses that a conserved sequence element associated with antibiotic resistance genes represents a novel widespread riboswitch class for certain aminoglycosides. Below, we point out previously reported functions for this element that were not discussed by the authors, and we n...

Bovine-origin Escherichia coli isolates were tested for resistance phenotypes using a disk diffusion assay and for resistance genotypes using a DNA microarray. An isolate with gentamicin and amikacin resistance but with no corresponding genes detected yielded a 1,056-bp DNA sequence with the closest homologues for its inferred protein sequence among a family of 16S rRNA methyltransferase enzyme...

Bacillus clausii SIN is one of the four strains of B. clausii composing a probiotic administered to humans for the prevention of gastrointestinal side effects due to oral antibiotic therapy. The strain is resistant to kanamycin, tobramycin, and amikacin. A gene conferring aminoglycoside resistance was cloned into Escherichia coli and sequenced. The gene, called aadD2, encoding a putative 246-am...

Anti-pseudomonas aminoglycosides, such as amikacin and tobramycin, are used in the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. However, their use is linked to the development of resistance. During the last decade, the MexXY multidrug efflux system has been comprehensively studied, and numerous reports of laboratory and clinical isolates have been published. This system has been increasingly...