title: The bifunctional enzymes of antibiotic resistance.
abstract: The evolutionary union of two genes--each encoding proteins of complementary enzymatic activity--into a single gene so as to allow the coordinated expression of these activities as a fusion polypeptide, is an increasingly recognized biological occurrence. The result of this genetic union is the bifunctional enzyme. This fusion of separate catalytic activities into a single protein, whose gene is regulated by a single promoter, is seen especially where the coordinated expression of the separate activities is highly desirable. Increasingly, a circumstance driving the evolution of the bifunctional enzyme in bacteria is the resistance response of bacteria to antibiotic chemotherapy. We summarize the knowledge on bifunctional antibiotic-resistance enzymes, as possible harbingers of clinically significant resistance mechanisms of the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
authors.forename: Weilie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jed F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Shahriar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mobashery
mesh_terms: D000617:Aminoglycosides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D020134:Catalytic Domain; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D018440:beta-Lactam Resistance / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000617:Aminoglycosides; D001426:Bacterial Proteins