title: Prevalence and mechanisms of low- and high-level mupirocin resistance in staphylococci isolated from a Korean hospital.
abstract: Mupirocin has been used against Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria, and is a specific inhibitor of bacterial isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase. In this work, we have determined the prevalence of mupirocin resistance among staphylococci isolated from a Korean hospital, and have investigated the characteristics of the resistance. In Staphylococcus aureus, the prevalence of high-level mupirocin resistance was 5% (16 of 319), whereas low-level mupirocin resistance was not detected. In coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) the rates of high- and low-level mupirocin resistance were 16.7% (34 of 204) and 10.3% (21 of 204), respectively. The high-level resistant strains contained the ileS-2 gene, which encodes a novel staphylococcal isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase. In contrast, all of the low-level mupirocin-resistant CoNS contained the mutation V588F, which is located near the conserved motif KMSKS, within the chromosomal staphylococcal isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase gene (ileS). In conclusion, this work describes the recent, but rapid, emergence of two different types of mupirocin-resistant staphylococci in Korea, and the sequence and mutant characterization of the isoleucyl-tRNA synthetase of CoNS.
authors.affiliation: National Creative Research Initiatives Center for ARS Network, College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, San 56-1, Shillim-Dong, Kwanak-Gu, Seoul 151-742, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee-Jeong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Sang Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Gyu Man
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Su Yeon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sooyoung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yeong Seon
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eung-Chil
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sunghoon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D016712:Mupirocin / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017354:Point Mutation; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D016712:Mupirocin