Functional diversity among metallo-beta-lactamases: characterization of the CAR-1 enzyme of Erwinia carotovora.

ABSTRACT: Metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs) are zinc-dependent bacterial enzymes characterized by an efficient hydrolysis of carbapenems and a lack of sensitivity to commercially available beta-lactamase inactivators. Apart from the acquired subclass B1 enzymes, which exhibit increasing clinical importance and whose evolutionary origin remains unclear, most MBLs are encoded by resident genes found in the genomes of organisms belonging to at least three distinct phyla. Using genome database mining, we identified an open reading frame (ORF) (ECA2849) encoding an MBL-like protein in the sequenced genome of Erwinia carotovora, an important plant pathogen. Although no detectable beta-lactamase activity could be found in E. carotovora, a recombinant Escherichia coli strain in which the ECA2849 ORF was cloned

SUBMITTER: Stoczko M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2443915 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature