Project description:Beta-lactamases confer bacterial resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, such as penicillins. The characteristic class C beta-lactamase AmpC catalyzes the reaction with several key residues including Ser64, Tyr150, and Lys67. Here, we describe a 1.07 A X-ray crystallographic structure of AmpC beta-lactamase in complex with a boronic acid deacylation transition-state analogue. The high quality of the electron density map allows the determination of many proton positions. The proton on the Tyr150 hydroxyl group is clearly visible and is donated to the boronic oxygen mimicking the deacylation water. Meanwhile, Lys67 hydrogen bonds with Ser64Ogamma, Asn152Odelta1, and the backbone oxygen of Ala220. This suggests that this residue is positively charged and has relinquished the hydrogen bond with Tyr150 observed in acyl-enzyme complex structures. Together with previous biochemical and NMR studies, these observations indicate that Tyr150 is protonated throughout the reaction coordinate, disfavoring mechanisms that involve a stable tyrosinate as the general base for deacylation. Rather, the hydroxyl of Tyr150 appears to be well positioned to electrostatically stabilize the negative charge buildup in the tetrahedral high-energy intermediate. This structure, in itself, appears consistent with a mechanism involving either Tyr150 acting as a transient catalytic base in conjunction with a neutral Lys67 or the lactam nitrogen as the general base. Whereas mutagenesis studies suggest that Lys67 may be replaced by an arginine, disfavoring the conjugate base mechanism, distinguishing between these two hypotheses may ultimately depend on direct determination of the pK(a) of Lys67 along the reaction coordinate.
Project description:β-Lactamases hydrolyze β-lactam antibiotics and are major determinants of antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative pathogens. Enmetazobactam (formerly AAI101) and tazobactam are penicillanic acid sulfone (PAS) β-lactamase inhibitors that differ by an additional methyl group on the triazole ring of enmetazobactam, rendering it zwitterionic. In this study, ultrahigh-resolution X-ray crystal structures and mass spectrometry revealed the mechanism of PAS inhibition of CTX-M-15, an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) globally disseminated among Enterobacterales. CTX-M-15 crystals grown in the presence of enmetazobactam or tazobactam revealed loss of the Ser70 hydroxyl group and formation of a lysinoalanine cross-link between Lys73 and Ser70, two residues critical for catalysis. Moreover, the residue at position 70 undergoes epimerization, resulting in formation of a d-amino acid. Cocrystallization of enmetazobactam or tazobactam with CTX-M-15 with a Glu166Gln mutant revealed the same cross-link, indicating that this modification is not dependent on Glu166-catalyzed deacylation of the PAS-acylenzyme. A cocrystal structure of enmetazobactam with CTX-M-15 with a Lys73Ala mutation indicates that epimerization can occur without cross-link formation and positions the Ser70 Cβ closer to Lys73, likely facilitating formation of the Ser70-Lys73 cross-link. A crystal structure of a tazobactam-derived imine intermediate covalently linked to Ser70, obtained after 30 min of exposure of CTX-M-15 crystals to tazobactam, supports formation of an initial acylenzyme by PAS inhibitors on reaction with CTX-M-15. These data rationalize earlier results showing CTX-M-15 deactivation by PAS inhibitors to involve loss of protein mass, and they identify a distinct mechanism of β-lactamase inhibition by these agents. IMPORTANCE β-Lactams are the most prescribed antibiotic class for treating bacterial diseases, but their continued efficacy is threatened by bacterial strains producing β-lactamase enzymes that catalyze their inactivation. The CTX-M family of ESBLs are major contributors to β-lactam resistance in Enterobacterales, preventing effective treatment with most penicillins and cephalosporins. Combining β-lactams with β-lactamase inhibitors (BLIs) is a validated route to overcome such resistance. Here, we describe how exposure to enmetazobactam and tazobactam, BLIs based on a penicillanic acid sulfone (PAS) scaffold, leads to a protein modification in CTX-M-15, resulting in irremediable inactivation of this most commonly encountered member of the CTX-M family. High-resolution X-ray crystal structures showed that PAS exposure induces formation of a cross-link between Ser70 and Lys73, two residues critical to β-lactamase function. This previously undescribed mechanism of inhibition furthers our understanding of β-lactamase inhibition by classical PAS inhibitors and provides a basis for further, rational inhibitor development.
Project description:To estimate the diversity of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases in Brazil, 18 strains from different species of the family Enterobacteriaceae exhibiting a positive double-disk synergy test were collected by a clinical laboratory from several hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1996 and 1997. Four strains (Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobacter aerogenes, and Citrobacter amalonaticus) hybridized with a 550-bp CTX-M probe. The P. mirabilis strain produced a CTX-M-2 enzyme. The E. cloacae, E. aerogenes, and C. amalonaticus isolates harbored a bla gene which was identified by cloning and sequencing as a bla(CTX-M) gene. E. coli HB101 transconjugants and the E. coli DH5alpha transformant harboring a recombinant plasmid produced a CTX-M beta-lactamase with an isoelectric point of 7.6 conferring a resistance phenotype characterized by a higher level of resistance to cefotaxime than to ceftazidime, as observed with the other CTX-M enzymes. The deduced protein sequence showed a novel Ambler class A CTX-M enzyme, named CTX-M-8, which had 83 to 88% identity with the previously described CTX-M enzymes. The phylogenic study of the CTX-M family including CTX-M-8 revealed four CTX-M types, CTX-M-8 being the first member of a new phylum of CTX-M enzymes. The evolutionary distances between the four types of CTX-M were large, suggesting that the four clusters branched off early from a distant unknown enzyme and that intermediate enzymes probably existed.
Project description:From November 2000 to June 2001, Escherichia coli strains producing CTX-M-2 beta-lactamase were isolated from 6 (1.5%) of 396 cattle fecal samples and 2 (0.7%) of 270 surface swabs of cattle carcasses in Japan. The blaCTX-M-2 gene responsible for CTX-M-2 production was encoded on transferable plasmids, and the gene was transferred to E. coli CSH2 with a very high frequency (2 x 10(-4) to 6 x 10(-1) per donor cells) by conjugation. Random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis of nine isolates showed at least five different patterns. These findings suggest that CTX-M-2 producers might have originated from cattle through the use of cephalosporins such as ceftiofur and that cattle could be a reservoir of CTX-M-2-producing E. coli. Continuous and strategic surveillance of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in livestock is essential to suppress further dissemination of these bacteria into society at large.
Project description:Four Escherichia coli isolates harboring CTX-M-14, with a single Ala231-->Val substitution compared to CTX-M-9, had three different ribotypes. Cefotaxime resistance was plasmid encoded and conjugatively transferable. Three isolates had the same plasmid restriction enzyme digestion profile, suggesting clonal spread of a resistant plasmid. A high k(cat)/K(m) value for cefotaxime (20.3 microM(-1) s(-1)) but low values for ceftazidime and aztreonam (< 0.02 microM(-1) s(-1)) were observed in hydrolysis assays, indicating resistance to cefotaxime (MIC > or = 64 microg/ml) but susceptibility to ceftazidime (MIC < or = 2 microg/ml).
Project description:Four Salmonella enterica serovar Virchow strains resistant to broad-spectrum cephalosporins were isolated from patients with gastroenteritis in 1997 and 1998 in Murcia and Barcelona, Spain. The isolates expressed a beta-lactamase with a pI of about 8 and a positive PCR when specific primers for CTX-M-9 were used. These results suggest the presence of a CTX-M-9 beta-lactamase in these strains.
Project description:Antibiotic resistance is a major challenge to global public health. Discovery of new antibiotics is slow and to ensure proper treatment of bacterial infections new strategies are needed. One way to curb the development of antibiotic resistance is to design drug combinations where the development of resistance against one drug leads to collateral sensitivity to the other drug. Here we study collateral sensitivity patterns of the globally distributed extended-spectrum β-lactamase CTX-M-15, and find three non-synonymous mutations with increased resistance against mecillinam or piperacillin-tazobactam that simultaneously confer full susceptibility to several cephalosporin drugs. We show in vitro and in mice that a combination of mecillinam and cefotaxime eliminates both wild-type and resistant CTX-M-15. Our results indicate that mecillinam and cefotaxime in combination constrain resistance evolution of CTX-M-15, and illustrate how drug combinations can be rationally designed to limit the resistance evolution of horizontally transferred genes by exploiting collateral sensitivity patterns.
Project description:Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the main causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), is naturally resistant to β-lactam antibiotics due to the production of the extended spectrum β-lactamase BlaC. β-Lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combination therapies can circumvent the BlaC-mediated resistance of Mtb and are promising treatment options against TB. However, still little is known of the exact mechanism of BlaC inhibition by the β-lactamase inhibitors currently approved for clinical use, clavulanic acid, sulbactam, tazobactam, and avibactam. Here, we present the X-ray diffraction crystal structures of the acyl-enzyme adducts of wild-type BlaC with the four inhibitors. The +70 Da adduct derived from clavulanate and the trans-enamine acylation adducts of sulbactam and tazobactam are reported. BlaC in complex with avibactam revealed two inhibitor conformations. Preacylation binding could not be observed because inhibitor binding was not detected in BlaC variants carrying a substitution of the active site serine 70 to either alanine or cysteine, by crystallography, ITC or NMR. These results suggest that the catalytic serine 70 is necessary not only for enzyme acylation but also for increasing BlaC affinity for inhibitors in the preacylation state. The structure of BlaC with the serine to cysteine mutation showed a covalent linkage of the cysteine 70 Sγ atom to the nearby amino group of lysine 73. The differences of adduct conformations between BlaC and other β-lactamases are discussed.