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E Cundliffe

Publications and source records attributed to E Cundliffe.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Transcriptional attenuation control of the tylosin-resistance gene tlrA in Streptomyces fradiae.

The tylosin producer Streptomyces fradiae contains four known resistance genes, two of which (tlrA and tlrD) encode methyltransferases that act on ribosomal RNA at a common site. Expression of tlrA is regulated via transcriptional attenuation. A short transcript, only 411 nucleotides long, terminates 27 nucleotides into the methylase-coding sequence in the uninduced state. Induction of tlrA is proposed to involve a ribosome-mediated conformational change within the mRNA leader that allows transcription to continue beyond the attenuation site, resulting in a transcript about 1450 nucleotides long. Transplantation of tlrD and/or tlrA into Streptomyces albus revealed that the induction specificity of tlrA depends upon the state of the ribosomes and is significantly altered in strains also expressing tlrD.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Replacement of the L11 binding region within E.coli 23S ribosomal RNA with its homologue from yeast: in vivo and in vitro analysis of hybrid ribosomes altered in the GTPase centre.

Replacement of the protein L11 binding domain within Escherichia coli 23S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) by the equivalent region from yeast 26S rRNA appeared to have no effect on the growth rate of E.coli cells harbouring a plasmid carrying the mutated rrnB operon. The hybrid rRNA was correctly processed and assembled into ribosomes, which accumulated normally in polyribosomes. Of the total ribosomal population, < 25% contained wild-type, chromosomally encoded rRNA; the remainder were mutant. The hybrid ribosomes supported GTP hydrolysis dependent upon E.coli elongation factor G, although at a somewhat reduced rate compared with wild-type particles, and were sensitive to the antibiotic, thiostrepton, a potent inhibitor of ribosomal GTPase activity that binds to 23S rRNA within the L11 binding domain. That thiostrepton could indeed bind to the mutant ribosomes, although at a reduced level relative to that seen with wild-type ribosomes, was confirmed in a non-equilibrium assay. The rationale for the ability of the hybrid ribosomes to bind the antibiotic, given that yeast ribosomes do not, was provided when yeast rRNA was shown by equilibrium dialysis to bind thiostrepton only 10-fold less tightly than did E.coli rRNA. The extreme conservation of secondary, but not primary, structure in this region between E.coli and yeast rRNAs allows the hybrid ribosomes to function competently in protein synthesis and also preserves the interaction with thiostrepton.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Expression and analysis of two gyrB genes from the novobiocin producer, Streptomyces sphaeroides.

A novobiocin producer, Streptomyces sphaeroides, contains two genes, designated gyrBS and gyrBR, that encode novobiocin-sensitive and -resistant DNA gyrase B proteins, respectively. The cloning of gyrBR was reported earlier; here, we describe the cloning of gyrBS. Both genes have been sequenced (the deduced products of gyrBS and gyrBR have M(r) values of 87.6K and 86.5K, respectively) and their transcripts have been mapped. Downstream of gyrBS, and co-transcribed with it, is the sole gyrA gene (encoding DNA gyrase A protein). By constructing hybrid gyrB genes, using fragments of gyrBS and gyrBR, a specific portion of the N-terminal domain of the gyrase B protein (corresponding to amino acid residues 134-256 of Escherichia coli gyrase B) has been implicated in the binding of novobiocin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Resistance to macrolides and lincosamides in Streptomyces lividans and to aminoglycosides in Micromonospora purpurea.

Ribosomal (r) resistance to gentamicin in clones containing DNA from the producing organism Micromonospora purpurea is determined by grmA, and not by kgmA as originally reported. The kgmA gene originated in Streptomyces tenebrarius and is identical to kgmB. Both grmA and kgm encode enzymes that methylate single specific sites within 16S rRNA, although the site of action of the grmA product has not yet been determined. In either case, the methylated nucleoside is 7-methyl G. Inducible resistance to lincomycin (Ln) and macrolides in Streptomyces lividans TK21 results from expression of two genes: lrm, encoding an rRNA methyltransferase and mgt, encoding a glycosyl transferase (MGT), that specifically inactivates macrolides. The lrm product monomethylates residue A2058 within 23S rRNA (Escherichia coli numbering scheme) and confers high-level resistance to Ln with much lower levels of resistance to macrolides. Substrates for MGT, which utilises UDP-glucose as cofactor, include macrolides with 12-, 14-, 15- or 16-atom cyclic polyketide lactones (as in methymycin, erythromycin, azithromycin or tylosin, respectively) although spiramycin and carbomycin are not apparently modified. The enzyme is specific for the 2'-OH group of saccharide moieties attached to C5 of the 16-atom lactone ring (corresponding to C5 or C3 in 14- or 12-atom lactones, respectively). The lrm and mgt genes have been cloned and sequenced. The deduced lrm product is a 26-kDa protein, similar to other rRNA methyltransferases, such as the carB, tlrA and ermE products, whereas the mgt product (deduced to be 42 kDa) resembles a glycosyl transferase from barley.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Self-protection mechanisms in antibiotic producers.

Various ways in which antibiotic-producing organisms are able to resist the actions of their products are discussed. Examples are given of antibiotic inactivation and also the modification of antibiotic target sites (most notably, ribosomes) to which drugs would otherwise bind and thereby exert their usual inhibitory effects. An interesting variation on the latter theme involves the duplication of target enzymes so that both sensitive and resistant versions are produced, the latter inducibly. Speculative discussion of antibiotic efflux leads to examples of cloned resistance determinants that probably encode components of efflux systems. Although of interest in their own right, resistance mechanisms should not be viewed narrowly when the physiology of antibiotic producers is considered. Thus, chemical modification of drug molecules may not only fulfil a protective role within the cell but may also provide substrates for efflux. Recent evidence that such considerations apply to macrolide antibiotics is presented. The control of resistance in producing organisms is also discussed with particular reference to the induction of novobiocin resistance in Streptomyces sphaeroides. This involves the interplay of novobiocin-sensitive and -resistant forms of DNA gyrase and features a promoter that displays a dramatic response to changes in DNA topology.

Actinomycetaceae↗
PubMed1992

Glycosylation of macrolide antibiotics in extracts of Streptomyces lividans.

Inducible resistance to macrolide antibiotics in Streptomyces lividans involves MGT, a macrolide glycosyl transferase that utilizes UDP-glucose as cofactor. Substrates for MGT include macrolides with 12-, 14-, 15-, or 16-atom cyclic polyketide lactones (as in methymycin, erythromycin, azithromycin, or tylosin, respectively), although spiramycin and carbomycin are not apparently modified. The enzyme is specific for the 2'-OH group of saccharidic moieties attached to C-5 of the 16-atom lactone ring (corresponding to C-5 or C-3 in 14- or 12-atom lactones, respectively).

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1991

Cloning and characterization of two genes from Streptomyces lividans that confer inducible resistance to lincomycin and macrolide antibiotics.

Inducible resistance to lincomycin and macrolides in Streptomyces lividans TK21 results from expression of two linked genes: lrm, encoding a ribosomal RNA methyltransferase that confers high-level resistance to lincomycin with lower levels of resistance to macrolides, and mgt, encoding a glycosyl transferase that specifically inactivates macrolides using UDP-glucose as cofactor. The lrm and mgt genes have been cloned and sequenced. The deduced lrm product is a 26-kDa protein with much similarity to other ribosomal RNA methyltransferases, such as the carB, tlrA and ermE products, whereas the mgt product (predicted to be 42 kDa) resembles a eukaryotic glycosyl transferase. Macrolides that induce the lrm-mgt gene pair are substrates for inactivation by the mgt product, and the lrm product confers ribosomal resistance to such inducers.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Cloning of an aminoglycoside-resistance-encoding gene, kamC, from Saccharopolyspora hirsuta: comparison with kamB from Streptomyces tenebrarius.

An aminoglycoside-resistance-encoding gene (kamC) has been isolated from the sporaricin producer, Saccharopolyspora (Sac.) hirsuta, and expressed both in Streptomyces lividans and Escherichia coli. The pattern of resistance conferred by this gene was identical to that given by another gene (kamB) previously isolated from Streptomyces tenebrarius. In accordance with the known action of the kamB product, the Sac, hirsuta determinant also encodes a methyltransferase that modifies 16S rRNA, thereby rendering ribosomes refractory to certain aminoglycosides. The nucleotide sequences of both genes have been determined and comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences reveals a high degree of similarity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Cloning and characterization of gentamicin-resistance genes from Micromonospora purpurea and Micromonospora rosea.

Aminoglycoside-resistance genes (grm) were cloned from a gentamicin producer Micromonospora purpurea and a sisomicin producer Micromonospora rosea. The nucleotide (nt) sequences of both genes were determined and the similarity between them was very high (90.4% identity). In either case, the transcription start point was localised to about 11 nt upstream from the likely translation start codons of grm, which is expressed as a polycistronic transcript. In studies to be reported elsewhere, it has been established that the M. purpurea grm gene encodes a ribosomal RNA methyltransferase. Here, we confirmed that the similarity of the two genes exists not only at the structural but also at the functional level.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Cloning of tlrD, a fourth resistance gene, from the tylosin producer, Streptomyces fradiae.

In addition to tlrA, tlrB and tlrC, which were previously cloned by others, a fourth antibiotic-resistance gene (tlrD) has been isolated from Streptomyces fradiae, a producer of tylosin (Ty), and cloned in Streptomyces lividans. Like tlrA, tlrD encodes an enzyme that methylates the N6-amino group of the A2058 nucleoside within 23S ribosomal RNA. However, whereas the tlrA protein dimethylates that nucleoside, the tlrD product generates N6-monomethyladenosine. The genes also differ in their mode of expression: tlrA is inducible, whereas tlrD is apparently expressed constitutively, and it has been confirmed that the tlrA-encoded enzyme can add a second methyl group to 23S rRNA that has already been monomethylated by the tlrD-encoded enzyme. Presumably, that is what happens in S. fradiae.

Blotting, Southern↗
PubMed1991

Analysis of a ribosomal RNA methylase gene from Streptomyces tenebrarius which confers resistance to gentamicin.

Resistance to the aminoglycoside gentamicin in the nebramycin producer, Streptomyces tenebrarius, occurs at the level of the ribosome. A resistance determinant isolated from this actinomycete was previously shown to encode a methylase enzyme which modifies residue G-1405 of 16S ribosomal RNA. This gene (kgmB) has been sequenced and expressed in Escherichia coli using lacZ transcriptional signals since, like many other actinomycete genes, kgmB is not expressed in E. coli from its own promoter. The 5' end of the kgmB transcript has been mapped revealing a single promoter which does not obviously conform to the prokaryotic consensus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1991

Site-specific methylation of 16S rRNA caused by pct, a pactamycin resistance determinant from the producing organism, Streptomyces pactum.

Ribosomal resistance to pactamycin in clones of Streptomyces lividans containing DNA (pct) from Streptomyces pactum, the pactamycin producer, involves methylation of 16S RNA. The modified residue A-941 in S. lividans 16S rRNA (A-964 in the homologous Escherichia coli sequence) is converted to 1-methyladenosine, and the ribosomal ability to bind pactamycin is reduced or abolished.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Resistance to pactamycin in clones of Streptomyces lividans containing DNA from pactamycin-producing Streptomyces pactum.

A pactamycin (Pc)-resistance determinant (pct) from Streptomyces pactum has been isolated on a 4.9-kb KpnI fragment. The original construct involving plasmid pIJ702 was highly unstable in Streptomyces lividans, leading to deletion of the pct gene from the vector. Subcloning of pct into an alternative vector (pOJ160) led to the generation of a more stable clone which possessed Pc-resistant ribosomes, and reconstitution analysis established that 16S rRNA was responsible for such resistance. Post-transcriptional modification of rRNA is probably the mechanism of resistance since the cloned DNA fragment did not appear to encode 16S rRNA.

Cloning, Molecular↗
PubMed1990

Methylation of 23S ribosomal RNA due to carB, an antibiotic-resistance determinant from the carbomycin producer, Streptomyces thermotolerans.

A resistance gene, carB, originally isolated from the carbomycin-producing organism, Streptomyces thermotolerans, confers on Streptomyces lividans high-level resistance to the drug. However, ribosomes from S. lividans expressing carB show only moderate resistance to this macrolide in vitro, although they are highly resistant to the action of lincosamide antibiotics. The carB product monomethylates the amino group of the adenosine residue located at position 2058 in 23S ribosomal RNA. In contrast, ribosomes from S. lividans expressing ermE, in which 23S RNA is dimethylated at this same position, are much more highly resistant to macrolides and insensitive to lincosamides.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1990

Cloning of a lincosamide resistance determinant from Streptomyces caelestis, the producer of celesticetin, and characterization of the resistance mechanism.

Self-resistance has been investigated in Streptomyces caelestis (producer of the lincosamide antibiotic celesticetin), from which a lincosamide resistance determinant (clr) has been isolated on a 1-kilobase DNA fragment and cloned in Streptomyces lividans. The clr product is a specific methylase which produces a single residue of N6-monomethyladenine in 23S rRNA at position 2058, thereby rendering the 50S ribosmal subunit resistant to the action of lincosamides.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1989

Interplay of novobiocin-resistant and -sensitive DNA gyrase activities in self-protection of the novobiocin producer, Streptomyces sphaeroides.

The novobiocin (Nb)-producing organism, Streptomyces sphaeroides, possesses two gyrB genes: gyrBS and gyrBR (encoding the DNA gyrase B subunit-the normal target for Nb) whose products differ in their response to the drug. Novobiocin-sensitive gyrase is the predominant form of the enzyme in this strain and is produced constitutively but at variable levels, whereas Nb-resistant gyrase appears when growth takes place in the presence of the drug. The promoter isolated from the Nb-resistance determinant responds sharply to changes in DNA topology, being activated when the (negative) superhelical density is reduced and vice versa when the supercoiling of DNA is increased. Thus, resistance to Nb in S. sphaeroides is induced by a reduction in DNA supercoiling due to the action of autogenous drug on the sensitive gyrase.

Blotting, Southern↗
PubMed1989

Inducible ribosomal RNA methylation in Streptomyces lividans, conferring resistance to lincomycin.

Streptomyces lividans TK21 possesses inducible ribosomal RNA methylase activity that confers high-level resistance to lincomycin and lower levels of resistance to certain macrolides. The methylase gene (designated lrm) is inducible by erythromycin and other macrolides and also by celesticetin (a lincosamide) but not by lincomycin. The lrm enzyme monomethylates the N6-amino group of adenosine at position 2058 within 23S-like ribosomal RNA.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗