Activation of the cryptic aac(6')-Iy aminoglycoside resistance gene of Salmonella by a chromosomal deletion generating a transcriptional fusion.
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ABSTRACT: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serotype Enteritidis BM4361 and BM4362 were isolated from the same patient. BM4361 was susceptible to aminoglycosides, whereas BM4362 was resistant to tobramycin owing to synthesis of a 6'-N-acetyltransferase type I [AAC(6')-I]. Comparative analysis of nucleotide sequences, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns, and Southern hybridizations indicated that the chromosomal aac(6')-Iy genes for the enzyme in both strains were identical and that BM4362 derived from BM4361 following a ca. 60-kb deletion that occurred 1.5 kb upstream from the resistance gene. Northern hybridizations showed that aac(6')-Iy was silent in BM4361 and highly expressed in BM4362 due to a transcriptional fusion. Primer extension mapping identified the transcriptional start site for aac(6')-Iy in BM4362: 5 bp downstream from the promoter of the nmpC gene. Study of the distribution of aac(6')-Iy by PCR and Southern hybridization with a specific probe indicated that the gene, although not found in S. enterica subsp. arizonae, was specific for Salmonella. In this bacterial genus, aac(6')-Iy was located downstream from a cluster of seven open reading frames analogous to an Escherichia coli locus that encodes enzymes putatively involved in carbohydrate transport or metabolism. This genomic environment suggests a role in the catabolism of a specific sugar for AAC(6')-Iy in Salmonella.
SUBMITTER: Magnet S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC94128 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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