Characterization of Plasmids that Confer Inducible Resistance to 14-Membered Macrolides and Streptogramin Type B Antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus

• Published in: MICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY Vol. 34; no. 9; pp. 723 - 735
• Main Authors: Jánosi, László, Nakajima, Yosinori, Hashimoto, Hajime
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-01-1990; Center For Academic Publications Japan; Center for Academic Publications Japan
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Bacteriology; beta-Lactamases - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; DNA, Bacterial - drug effects; DNA, Bacterial - isolation & purification; Drug Resistance, Microbial - genetics; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetics; Humans; Hungary; Macrolides; Metals - pharmacology; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microbiology; Phenotype; R Factors - genetics; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - drug effects; Staphylococcus aureus - enzymology; Staphylococcus aureus - genetics; Staphylococcus aureus - isolation & purification; Transduction, Genetic; Virginiamycin - pharmacology; Hungary; Staphylococcus aureus; Human; Hungary; Gel electrophoresis; Induction; Europe; Inheritance; Macrolide; Characterization; Plasmid; Resistance; Antibiotic; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Micrococcaceae; Clinical isolate; Staphylococcus aureus
• ISSN: 0385-5600; 1348-0421
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1990.tb01050.x

During a period from 1978 to 1989, 413 Staphylococcus aureus strains were isolated at 27 different geographical regions in Hungary; they exhibited an inducible resistance to the 14-membered macrolides and streptogramin type B antibiotics, but not to the 16-membered macrolides and lincosamides: this resistance is referred to as PMS resistance phenotype. The isolates were mostly associated with patients suffering from staphylococcal diseases and with hygienic screenings in hospitals and closed communities. They were rarely isolated from food-poisoning cases, food hygienic screenings, or animal sources. Strains with PMS resistance phenotype were resistant to penicillin (99.0%), tetracycline (78.7%), and chloramphenicol (63.0%); however, they were susceptible to oxacillin. Most of them (94.2%) belonged to the phage type 52-complex. The determinant for PMS phenotype was located on plasmids, which also encoded beta-lactamase production and cadmium ion resistance, but not arsenate resistance. Three types of plasmid with molecular size of 50 kilobases (kb), 23.8kb, and 16.8kb, were found among the strains with PMS resistance phenotype, and the 50kb and 23.8kb plasmids also encoded mercury resistance. The 16.8kb and 23.8kb plasmids belonged to incompatibility group 1.