Molecular evolution perspectives on intraspecific lateral DNA transfer of topoisomerase and gyrase loci in Streptococcus pneumoniae, with implications for fluoroquinolone resistance development and spread.

ABSTRACT: Fluoroquinolones are an important class of antibiotics for the treatment of infections arising from the gram-positive respiratory pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. Although there is evidence supporting interspecific lateral DNA transfer of fluoroquinolone target loci, no studies have specifically been designed to assess the role of intraspecific lateral transfer of these genes in the spread of fluoroquinolone resistance. This study involves a comparative evolutionary perspective, in which the evolutionary history of a diverse set of S. pneumoniae clinical isolates is reconstructed from an expanded multilocus sequence typing data set, with putative recombinants excluded. This control history is then assessed against networks of each of the four fluoroquinolone target loci from the same iso

SUBMITTER: Stanhope MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1251522 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature