Abstract
Benzyl penicillin has been used extensively for ∼40 years in the treatment of gonorrhoea. The intense selective pressures resulting from the continual exposure of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to penicillin have resulted in the emergence of resistant strains that produce altered forms of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) with decreased affinity for the antibiotic1–3. A comparison of the sequences of the PBP-2 genes from penicillin-sensitive and penicillin-resistant strains, suggests that penicillin-resistant forms of PBP 2 may have arisen both by amino-acid substitutions and insertions, and by the exchange of a region encoding part of the penicillin-sensitive transpeptidase domain with the homologous region from a closely related species.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dougherty, T. J., Koller, A. E. & Tomasz, A. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 18, 730–737 (1980).
Barbour, A. G. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 19, 316–322 (1981).
Dougherty, T. J. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 30, 649–652 (1986).
Cannon, J. G. & Sparling, P. F. A. Rev. Genet. 38, 111–133 (1984).
Faruki, H. & Sparling, P. F. Antimicrob. Agents. Chemother. 30, 856–860 (1986).
Broome-Smith, J. K., Edelman, A., Yousif, S. & Spratt, B. G. Eur. J. Biochem. 147, 437–446 (1985).
Asoh, S. et al. Eur. J. Biochem. 160, 231–238 (1986).
Nakamura, M. et al. Molec. gen. Genet. 191, 1–9 (1983).
Spratt, B. G. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72, 2999–3003 (1975).
Spratt, B. G. J. gen. Microbiol. 129, 1247–1260 (1983).
Hedge, P. J. & Spratt, B. G. FEBS Lett. 176, 179–184 (1984).
Ishino, F. & Matsuhashi, M. Biochim. biophys. Res. Commun. 101, 905–911 (1981).
Keck, W., Glauner, B., Schwarz, U., Broome-Smith, J. K. & Spratt, B. G. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 82, 1999–2003 (1985).
Faruki, H., Kohmescher, R. N., McKinney, W. P. & Sparling, P. F. New Eng. J. Med. 313, 607–611 (1985).
Hedge, P. J. & Spratt, B. G. Eur. J. Biochem 151, 111–121 (1985).
Hedge, P. J. & Spratt, B. G. Nature 318, 478–480 (1985).
Spratt, B. G., Hedge, P. J., te Heesen, S., Edelman, A. & Broome-Smith, J. K. Gene 41, 337–342 (1986).
Holmes, D. S. & Quigley, M. Anal. Biochem. 114, 193–197 (1981).
Biggin, M. D., Gibson, T. J. & Hong, G. F. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 80, 3963–3965 (1983).
Stormo, G. D., Schneider, T. D., Gold, L. & Ehrenfeucht, A. Nucleic Acids Res. 10, 2997–3011 (1982).
Feinberg, A. P. & Vogelstein, B. Anal. Biochem. 137, 226–227 (1984).
Staden, R. Nucleic Acids Res. 10, 2951–2961 (1982).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spratt, B. Hybrid penicillin-binding proteins in penicillin-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Nature 332, 173–176 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332173a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/332173a0
This article is cited by
-
A community-driven resource for genomic epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance prediction of Neisseria gonorrhoeae at Pathogenwatch
Genome Medicine (2021)
-
Phylogenomic analysis reveals persistence of gonococcal strains with reduced-susceptibility to extended-spectrum cephalosporins and mosaic penA-34
Nature Communications (2021)
-
Multiresistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae: a new threat in second decade of the XXI century
Medical Microbiology and Immunology (2020)
-
The impact of antimicrobials on gonococcal evolution
Nature Microbiology (2019)
-
Widespread acquisition of antimicrobial resistance among Campylobacter isolates from UK retail poultry and evidence for clonal expansion of resistant lineages
BMC Microbiology (2013)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
