Functional analysis of the RdxA and RdxB nitroreductases of Campylobacter jejuni reveals that mutations in rdxA confer metronidazole resistance.

ABSTRACT: Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of gastroenteritis in humans and a commensal bacterium of the intestinal tracts of many wild and agriculturally significant animals. We identified and characterized a locus, which we annotated as rdxAB, encoding two nitroreductases. RdxA was found to be responsible for sensitivity to metronidazole (Mtz), a common therapeutic agent for another epsilonproteobacterium, Helicobacter pylori. Multiple, independently derived mutations in rdxA but not rdxB resulted in resistance to Mtz (Mtz(r)), suggesting that, unlike the case in H. pylori, Mtz(r) might not be a polygenic trait. Similarly, Mtz(r) C. jejuni was isolated after both in vitro and in vivo growth in the absence of selection that contained frameshift, point, insertion, or deletion mutations within

SUBMITTER: Ribardo DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2838047 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature