title: Imipenem resistance in Acinetobacter baumanii is due to altered penicillin-binding proteins.
abstract: The comparison of a clinical Acinetobacter baumanii isolate (strain No. 4852/88) and its selected imipenem-resistant (IMR) clone exhibited a complex reorganization of the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) with diminished labelling of all PBPs except the 24-kD PBP which showed an increased binding of 14C-penicillin. This protein could not be saturated by preincubation of membranes with imipenem at 8-fold the MIC of imipenem, thus indicating PBP alterations responsible for imipenem resistance. In A. baumanii 4852/88 seven PBPs with the apparent molecular weights of 94, 84, 65, 61, 48, 40 and 24 kD could be detected. beta-Lactamase production was barely detectable in any case and could not be enhanced in the presence of various beta-lactams as the inducer. The outer membrane proteins were found identical in both the wild-type strain and the Im clone. So far, imipenem-resistant A. baumanii isolates have been isolated twice in our diagnostic laboratory; however, no implications on the future relevance of the above findings can be made.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Immunologie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, BRD.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gehrlein
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leying
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cullmann
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wendt
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Opferkuch
mesh_terms: D000150:Acinetobacter / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006602:Hexosyltransferases; D015378:Imipenem / Q000378:metabolism*; D002267:Muramoylpentapeptide Carboxypeptidase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D046915:Penicillin-Binding Proteins; D015378:Imipenem; D010458:Peptidyl Transferases; D006602:Hexosyltransferases; D002267:Muramoylpentapeptide Carboxypeptidase; D001618:beta-Lactamases