Total variation in the penA gene of Neisseria meningitidis: correlation between susceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics and penA gene heterogeneity.

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, the prevalence of Neisseria meningitidis isolates with reduced susceptibility to penicillins has increased. The intermediate resistance to penicillin (Pen(i)) for most strains is due mainly to mosaic structures in the penA gene, encoding penicillin-binding protein 2. In this study, susceptibility to beta-lactam antibiotics was determined for 60 Swedish clinical N. meningitidis isolates and 19 reference strains. The penA gene was sequenced and compared to 237 penA sequences from GenBank in order to explore the total identified variation of penA. The divergent mosaic alleles differed by 3% to 24% compared to those of the designated wild-type penA gene. By studying the final 1,143 to 1,149 bp of penA in a sequence alignment, 130 sequence variants were identified. In a 402-b

SUBMITTER: Thulin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1610065 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature