ISSN:
1574-6968
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
In enterococci and other pathogenic bacteria, high-level resistance to vancomycin and other glycopeptide antibiotics requires the action of the van genes, which direct the synthesis of peptidoglycan terminating in the depsipeptide d-alanyl-d-lactate, in place of the usual d-Ala-d-Ala. The Actinoplanes teichomyceticus tcp cluster, devoted to the biosynthesis of the glycopeptide antibiotic teicoplanin, contains van genes associated to a murF-like sequence (murF2). We show that A. teichomyceticus contains also a house-keeping murF1 gene, capable of complementing a temperature sensitive Escherichia coli murF mutant. MurF1, expressed in Streptomyces lividans, can catalyze the addition of either d-Ala-d-Ala or d-Ala-d-Lac to the UDP-N-acetyl-muramyl-l-Ala-d-Glu-d-Lys. However, similarly expressed MurF2 shows a small enzymatic activity only with d-Ala-d-lactate. Introduction of a single copy of the entire set of van genes confers resistance to teicoplanin-type glycopeptides to S. coelicolor.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.femsle.2004.09.017
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