Molecular organization of small plasmids bearing blaTEM-1 and conferring resistance to β-lactams in Haemophilus influenzae.

Journal article

TEM-1 is the dominant β-lactamase of Haemophilus influenzae and can be located on small plasmids. Three distinct plasmids with sizes from 4,304 to 5,646 nucleotides (nt) were characterized: pA1606, pA1209, and pPN223. In addition to TEM-1 and a replication enzyme of the Rep 3 superfamily, pA1606 carries a Tn3 resolvase gene and pA1606 and pA1209 carry an open reading frame (ORF) similar to a plasmid recombination enzyme gene described in Gram-positive bacteria. The plasmids transformed strain Rd to the ampicillin-resistant phenotype.

Authors: Søndergaard, A; San Millan, A; Santos-Lopez, A; Nielsen, S; Gonzalez-Zorn, B

• Journal: Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
• Volume: 56
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 4958-4960
• Publication date: 2012-09-01
• DOI: 10.1128/aac.00408-12
• EISSN: 1098-6596
• ISSN: 0066-4804
• Language: English
• Keywords: Recombinases; Plasmids; Ampicillin; Transformation, Bacterial; Base Sequence; beta-Lactam Resistance; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; RNA Replicase; beta-Lactamases; Transposon Resolvases; Molecular Sequence Data; Open Reading Frames; Haemophilus influenzae; beta-Lactams