Decreased susceptibility to 4'-deoxy-6'-N-methylamikacin (BB-K311) conferred by a mutant plasmid in Escherichia coli

Abstract

Escherichia coli MP6 contains a plasmid that encodes aminoglycoside 3'-phosphotransferase II, which phosphorylates kanamycin and confers high-level kanamycin resistance, Amikacin is a minor substrate of this enzyme, but MP6 is susceptible to amikacin. Strain MP10 has a spontaneous mutation in the plasmid of MP6 that increases the aminoglycoside 3'-phosphotransferase II activity not only against kanamycin but also against amikacin. This mutation is also responsible for the appearance of resistance to amikacin in MP10. Resistance to 4'-deoxy-6'-N-methylamikacin (BB-K311) by enzymatic modification has not been reported previously. As with amikacin, MP6 was susceptible to BB-K311 and its aminoglycoside 3'-phosphotransferase II did not phosphorylate this amikacin derivative appreciably. We found that the plasmid-borne mutation in MP10, however, localized by being cloned with a 3.7-megadalton HindIII fragment containing the aminoglycoside 3'-phosphotransferase II gene, resulted in increased phosphorylation of BB-K311 and resistance to it. Thus, the mutation distinguishing MP6 and MP10 has increased the activity of an existing aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme and produced new bacterial resistance to two previously minor substrates of the enzyme.