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Plasmid-mediated trimethoprim-resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Characterization of the first gram-positive plasmid dihydrofolate reductase (type S1).

ABSTRACT: The trimethoprim-resistance gene located on plasmid pSK1, originally identified in a multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from Australia, encodes the production of a dihydrofolate reductase (type S1), which confers a high degree of resistance to its host and is quite unlike any plasmid-encoded dihydrofolate reductase hitherto described. It has a low Mr (19,700) and has a higher specific activity than the constitutive Gram-negative plasmid dihydrofolate reductases. The type S1 enzyme is heat-stable and has a relatively low affinity for the substrate, dihydrofolate (Km 10.8 microM). It is moderately resistant to trimethoprim, and is competitively inhibited by this drug with an inhibitor-binding constant of 11.6 microM. This is the first identification and characterization of a plasmid-encoded trimethoprim-resistant dihydrofolate reductase derived from a Gram-positive species.

SUBMITTER: Young HK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1147852 | biostudies-other | 1987 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:Enterococci are usually susceptible in vitro to trimethoprim; however, high-level resistance (HLR) (MICs, >1,024 microg/ml) has been reported. We studied Enterococcus faecalis DEL, for which the trimethoprim MIC was >1,024 microg/ml. No transfer of resistance was achieved by broth or filter matings. Two different genes that conferred trimethoprim resistance when they were cloned in Escherichia coli (MICs, 128 and >1,024 microg/ml) were studied. One gene that coded for a polypeptide of 165 amino acids (MIC, 128 microg/ml for E. coli) was identical to dfr homologs that we cloned from a trimethoprim-susceptible E. faecalis strain, and it is presumed to be the intrinsic E. faecalis dfr gene (which causes resistance in E. coli when cloned in multiple copies); this gene was designated dfrE. The nucleotide sequence 5' to this dfr gene showed similarity to thymidylate synthetase genes, suggesting that the dfr and thy genes from E. faecalis are located in tandem. The E. faecalis gene that conferred HLR to trimethoprim in E. coli, designated dfrF, codes for a predicted polypeptide of 165 amino acids with 38 to 64% similarity with other dihydrofolate reductases from gram-positive and gram-negative organisms. The nucleotide sequence 5' to dfrF did not show similarity to the thy sequences. A DNA probe for dfrF hybridized under high-stringency conditions only to colony lysates of enterococci for which the trimethoprim MIC was >1,024 microg/ml; there was no hybridization to plasmid DNA from the strain of origin. To confirm that this gene causes trimethoprim resistance in enterococci, we cloned it into the integrative vector pAT113 and electroporated it into RH110 (E. faecalis OG1RF::Tn916DeltaEm) (trimethoprim MIC, 0.5 microg/ml), which resulted in RH110 derivatives for which the trimethoprim MIC was >1, 024 microg/ml. These results indicate that dfrF is an acquired but probably chromosomally located gene which is responsible for in vitro HLR to trimethoprim in E. faecalis.

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Plasmid-mediated trimethoprim-resistance in Staphylococcus aureus. Characterization of the first gram-positive plasmid dihydrofolate reductase (type S1).

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