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M Galleni

Publications and source records attributed to M Galleni.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Contribution of beta-lactamase production to the resistance of mycobacteria to beta-lactam antibiotics.

Mycobacterium fallax (M. fallax) is naturally sensitive to many beta-lactam antibiotics (MIC < 2 microg/ml) and devoid of beta-lactamase activity. In this paper, we show that the production of the beta-lactamase of Mycobacterium fortuitum by M. fallax significantly increased the MIC values for good substrates of the enzyme, whereas the potency of poor substrates or transient inactivators was not modified. The rates of diffusion of beta-lactams through the mycolic acid layer were low, but for all studied compounds the half-equilibration times were such that they would only marginally affect the MIC values in the absence of beta-lactamase production. These results emphasize the importance of enzymatic degradation as a major factor in the resistance of mycobacteria to penicillins.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Sensitivity of Aeromonas hydrophila carbapenemase to delta3-cephems: comparative study with other metallo-beta-lactamases.

Ceftriaxone and ceftriaxone S-oxide behaved as inactivators against the metallo-beta-lactamase of Aeromonas hydrophila AE036 and as substrates for the zinc beta-lactamase produced by Bacillus cereus (569/H/9) and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ULA 511. Moreover, RO 09-1428, a catechol-cephalosporin, was not recognized by the A. hydrophila enzyme. Panipenem, cephalosporin C, cephalosporin C-gamma-lactone, and loracarbef were substrates for the three studied beta-lactamases.

Aeromonas hydrophila↗

The bla gene of the cephamycin cluster of Streptomyces clavuligerus encodes a class A beta-lactamase of low enzymatic activity.

A gene (bla) encoding a beta-lactamase is present in the cephamycin gene cluster of Streptomyces clavuligerus, the strain producing clavulanic acid and a beta-lactamase inhibitory protein. The bla gene is located 5.1 kb downstream from and in the opposite orientation to cefE, encoding the deacetoxycephalosporin C synthase. The bla gene encodes a 332-residue protein (Mr, 35,218), similar to other class A beta-lactamases produced by actinomycetes. Modification (to SDG) of the SDN conserved motif of class A beta-lactamases as well as of amino acids in otherwise conserved regions in the molecule may explain the low penicillinase and cephalosporinase activities of the protein. The beta-lactamase has been purified to homogeneity and found to bind [3H]benzylpenicillin, a result reflecting a rate-limiting deacylation step. Nucleotide sequences homologous to bla were found in all tested cephamycin producers, but several other Streptomyces species which produce a beta-lactamase do not contain genes for beta-lactam antibiotic biosynthesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Overproduction and purification of the Aeromonas hydrophila CphA metallo-beta-lactamase expressed in Escherichia coli.

The Aeromonas hydrophila CphA metallo-beta-lactamase was overexpressed in a soluble secreted form in Escherichia coli using a T7 RNA polymerase-based expression system, and a simple protocol based on a single cation-exchange chromatographic step was developed, which is suitable for rapid purification of the overexpressed enzyme from E. coli lysates. A yield of up to 30 micrograms of purified enzyme per milliliter of culture was obtained. The purified enzyme preparation showed properties identical to those previously reported in the literature.

Aeromonas hydrophila↗

The 3-D structure of a zinc metallo-beta-lactamase from Bacillus cereus reveals a new type of protein fold.

The 3-D structure of Bacillus cereus (569/H/9) beta-lactamase (EC 3.5.2.6), which catalyses the hydrolysis of nearly all beta-lactams, has been solved at 2.5 A resolution by the multiple isomorphous replacement method, with density modification and phase combination, from crystals of the native protein and of a specially designed mutant (T97C). The current model includes 212 of the 227 amino acid residues, the zinc ion and 10 water molecules. The protein is folded into a beta beta sandwich with helices on each external face. To our knowledge, this fold has never been observed. An approximate internal molecular symmetry is found, with a 2-fold axis passing roughly through the zinc ion and suggesting a possible gene duplication. The active site is located at one edge of the beta beta sandwich and near the N-terminal end of a helix. The zinc ion is coordinated by three histidine residues (86, 88 and 149) and a water molecule. A sequence comparison of the relevant metallo-beta-lactamases, based on this protein structure, highlights a few well-conserved amino acid residues. The structure shows that most of these residues are in the active site. Among these, aspartic acid 90 and histidine 210 participate in a proposed catalytic mechanism for beta-lactam hydrolysis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Kinetic properties of the Bacillus licheniformis penicillin-binding proteins.

In the analysis of the interactions between beta-lactam antibiotics and their target enzymes, it is often difficult to estimate the kinetic properties of the molecules which react rapidly with their targets and in consequence behave as the most efficient antibiotics. The combined utilization of fluorescein-labelled penicillins and of a new competition method has allowed an accurate determination of the high second-order rate constants characterizing the acylation of Bacillus licheniformis penicillin-binding protein 1 (PBP1) by penicillins and cephalosporins. Strategies were devised for measuring high acylation rates while avoiding titration effects. The method was also suitable for measuring the PBP kinetic parameters in intact cells. These results also confirmed that PBP1 is probably the main target of most beta-lactam antibiotics. Cephalexin, however, reacted faster with PBP3.

Acylation↗

Saturation of penicillin-binding protein 1 by beta-lactam antibiotics in growing cells of Bacillus licheniformis.

With the help of a new highly sensitive method allowing the quantification of free penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) and of an integrated mathematical model, the progressive saturation of PBP1 by various beta-lactam antibiotics in growing cells of Bacillus licheniformis was studied. Although the results confirmed PBP1 as a major lethal target for these compounds, they also underlined several weaknesses in our present understanding of this phenomenon. In growing cells, but not in resting cells, the penicillin target(s) appeared to be somewhat protected from the action of the inactivators. In vitro experiments indicated that amino acids, peptides and depsipeptides mimicking the peptide moiety of the nascent peptidoglycan significantly interfered with the acylation of PBP1 by the antibiotics. In addition, the level of PBP1 saturation at antibiotic concentrations corresponding to the minimum inhibitory concentrations was not constant, suggesting that additional, presently undiscovered, factors might be necessary to account for the experimental observations.

Acylation↗

Kinetic study of interaction between BRL 42715, beta-lactamases, and D-alanyl-D-alanine peptidases.

A detailed kinetic study of the interactions between BRL 42715, a beta-lactamase-inhibiting penem, and various beta-lactamases (EC 3.5.2.6) and D-alanyl-D-alanine peptidases (DD-peptidases, EC 3.4.16.4) is presented. The compound was a very efficient inactivator of all active-site serine beta-lactamases but was hydrolyzed by the class B, Zn(2+)-containing enzymes, with very different kcat values. Inactivation of the Streptomyces sp. strain R61 extracellular DD-peptidase was not observed, and the Actinomadura sp. strain R39 DD-peptidase exhibited a low level of sensitivity to the compound.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Interactions of biapenem with active-site serine and metallo-beta-lactamases.

Biapenem, formerly LJC 10,627 or L-627, a carbapenem antibiotic, was studied in its interactions with 12 beta-lactamases belonging to the four molecular classes proposed by R. P. Ambler (Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. Biol. Sci. 289:321-331, 1980). Kinetic parameters were determined. Biapenem was readily inactivated by metallo-beta-lactamases but behaved as a transient inhibitor of the active-site serine enzymes tested, although with different acylation efficiency values. Class A and class D beta-lactamases were unable to confer in vitro resistance toward this carbapenem antibiotic. Surprisingly, the same situation was found in the case of class B enzymes from Aeromonas hydrophila AE036 and Bacillus cereus 5/B/6 when expressed in Escherichia coli strains.

Binding Sites↗

DD-peptidases and beta-lactamases: catalytic mechanisms and specificities.

DD-peptidases and beta-lactamases share several common properties, including the formation of an acylenzyme intermediate in their catalytic pathways. In their interactions with beta-lactam antibiotics, the stability of this intermediate is much higher with the peptidases than with the beta-lactamases. The structural factors responsible for this difference have not been identified. The evolution of beta-lactamases is taking place before our eyes, since mutants are constantly selected which can hydrolyze the molecules newly introduced as "beta-lactamase resistant" in the chemotherapeutic arsenal.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A common system controls the induction of very different genes. The class-A beta-lactamase of Proteus vulgaris and the enterobacterial class-C beta-lactamase.

Among the Enterobacteriaceae, Proteus vulgaris is exceptional in the inducible production of a 29-kDa beta-lactamase (cefuroximase) with an unusually high activity towards the beta-lactamase-stable oximino-cephalosporins (e.g. cefuroxime and cefotaxime). Sequencing of the corresponding gene, cumA, showed that the derived CumA beta-lactamase belonged to the molecular class A. The structural gene was under the direct control of gene cumR, which was transcribed backwards and whose initiation codon was 165 bp away from that of the beta-lactamase gene. This resembled the arrangement of structural and regulator genes ampC and ampR of the 39-kDa molecular-class-C beta-lactamase AmpC present in many enterobacteria. Moreover, cloned genes ampD and ampG for negative modulation and signal transduction of AmpC beta-lactamase induction, respectively, were also able to restore constitutively CumA overproducing and non-inducible P. vulgaris mutants to the inducible, wild-type phenotype. The results indicate that controls of the induction phenomena are equivalent for the CumA and AmpC beta-lactamase. Very different structural genes can thus be under the control of identical systems.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Synthesis, purification and kinetic properties of fluorescein-labelled penicillins.

The synthesis and properties of six fluorescein-labelled penicillins are reported. The two isomers of fluoresceyl-glycyl-6-amino-penicillanic acid are probably the best compounds to use for detection of all the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) present in a bacterial membrane preparation. However, the derivatives of ampicillin were much more efficient against Enterobacter aerogenes PBP3. The two isomers obtained when a commercial mixture of the two isomers of carboxyfluorescein was used most often exhibited similar properties, but the Streptomyces R61 extracellular DD-peptidase was only efficiently acylated by the 5'-carboxyfluorescein derivative of glycyl-6-aminopenicillanic acid.

Bacterial Proteins↗

Use of the chromosomal class A beta-lactamase of Mycobacterium fortuitum D316 to study potentially poor substrates and inhibitory beta-lactam compounds.

Sixteen different compounds usually considered beta-lactamase stable or representing potential beta-lactam inhibitors and inactivators were tested against the beta-lactamase produced by Mycobacterium fortuitum. The compounds exhibiting the most interesting properties were BRL42715, which was by far the best inactivator, and CGP31608 and ceftazidime, which were not recognized by the enzyme. These compounds thus exhibited adequate properties for fighting mycobacterial infections. Although cloxacillin, dicloxacillin, cefoxitin, and CP65207-2 exhibited poor inhibitory efficiency against the enzyme, they were also rather poor substrates and might be considered potential antimycobacterial agents. By contrast, CGP31523A and ceftamet were good substrates.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

A class-A beta-lactamase from Pseudomonas stutzeri that is highly active against monobactams and cefotaxime.

A beta-lactamase produced by Pseudomonas stutzeri was purified to protein homogeneity, and its physicochemical and catalytic properties were determined. Its profile was unusual since, in addition to penicillins, the enzyme hydrolysed second- and third-generation 'beta-lactamase-stable' cephalosporins and monobactams with similar efficiencies. On the basis of the characteristics of the interaction with beta-iodopenicillanic acid, the enzyme could be classified as a class-A beta-lactamase. However, when compared with most class-A beta-lactamases, it exhibited significantly lower kcat./Km values for the compounds usually considered to be the best substrates of these enzymes.

Cefotaxime↗