Abstract
Penicillin resistance in pneumococci is mediated by modified penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) that have decreased affinity to beta-lactams. In high-level penicillin-resistant transformants of the laboratory strain Streptococcus pneumoniae R6 containing various combinations of low-affinity PBPs, disruption of the fib locus results in a collapse of PBP-mediated resistance. In addition, crosslinked muropeptides are highly reduced. The fib operon consists of two genes, fibA and fibB, homologous to Staphylococcus aureus femA/B which are also required for expression of methicillin resistance in this organism. FibA and FibB belong to a family of proteins of Gram-positive bacteria involved in the formation of interpeptide bridges, thus representing interesting new targets for antimicrobial compounds for this group of pathogens.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
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Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
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Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
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Carrier Proteins / metabolism*
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Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
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Hexosyltransferases*
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Microbial Sensitivity Tests
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Muramoylpentapeptide Carboxypeptidase / metabolism*
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Mutagenesis, Insertional
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Operon*
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Penicillin-Binding Proteins
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Peptidoglycan / chemistry
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Peptidoglycan / metabolism*
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Peptidyl Transferases*
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Sequence Analysis, DNA
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Streptococcus pneumoniae / drug effects
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Streptococcus pneumoniae / genetics*
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Streptococcus pneumoniae / metabolism
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beta-Lactam Resistance / genetics*
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beta-Lactams / pharmacology
Substances
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Bacterial Proteins
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Carrier Proteins
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FemA protein, Bacteria
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FemB protein, Staphylococcus epidermidis
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FibA protein, Streptococcus pneumoniae
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FibB protein, Streptococcus pneumoniae
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Penicillin-Binding Proteins
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Peptidoglycan
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beta-Lactams
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Peptidyl Transferases
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Hexosyltransferases
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Muramoylpentapeptide Carboxypeptidase
Associated data
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GENBANK/AJ277484
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GENBANK/AJ277485