Origin and evolution of DNA associated with resistance to methicillin in staphylococci

GL Archer, DM Niemeyer - Trends in microbiology, 1994 - cell.com
GL Archer, DM Niemeyer
Trends in microbiology, 1994cell.com
Gordon L. Archer and Debra M. Niemeyer 0 ne of the means by which staphylococci
become resistant to P-lactam antibiotics is through acquisition of a chromosomal gene
(nzecA) that encodes an alternative target that is not inactivated by b-lactams'(see p. 421 for
a glossary of antibiotics). The mecA gene encodes a penicillin-binding protein (PEP), PBP2a
(or PBP2'), that has a low affinity for P-lactams and that can substitute for the function of the
other, P-lactarn-susceptible PKPs in crosslinking the bacterial cell wall. The mecA gene is …
Gordon L. Archer and Debra M. Niemeyer
0 ne of the means by which staphylococci become resistant to P-lactam antibiotics is through acquisition of a chromosomal gene (nzecA) that encodes an alternative target that is not inactivated by b-lactams’(see p. 421 for a glossary of antibiotics). The mecA gene encodes a penicillin-binding protein (PEP), PBP2a (or PBP2’), that has a low affinity for P-lactams and that can substitute for the function of the other, P-lactarn-susceptible PKPs in crosslinking the bacterial cell wall. The mecA gene is virtually identical in all species of staphylococci, both
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