Epidemiology and Molecular Basis of Penicillin-Resistant Neisseria meningitidis in Spain: A 5-Year History (1985-1989)

作者：J. A. Sáez-Nieto, Ricardo García Luján, Sonsoles Berrón, José Campos, Marc Viñas, Carme Fusté, Julio A. Vázquez, Q Y Zhang, Lucas D. Bowler, Joaquı́n V. Martı́nez-Suárez, Brian G. Spratt · 发表于：Clinical Infectious Diseases · 年份：1992 · DOI：10.1093/clinids/14.2.394 · 被引用次数：143 · 研究领域：Bacterial Infections and Vaccines、Pneumonia and Respiratory Infections、Infective Endocarditis Diagnosis and Management

Penicillin-resistant (penr) clinical isolates of Neisseria meningitidis, which do not produce beta-lactamase, were first identified in Spain in 1985; the frequency of their recovery, which has been increasing in the past few years, reached 20% in 1989. Serogrouping, determination of serotypes and subtypes, and multilocus enzyme electrophoresis of the penr strains showed an extensive diversity. Resistance is due, at least in part, to a decreased affinity of penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 2 for penicillin. Similar low-affinity forms of PBP 2 are also found in penr isolates of Neisseria lactamica, Neisseria polysaccharea, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Genetic transformation of an N. meningitidis type strain to low-level penicillin resistance with DNA from resistant meningococci and other Neisseria species resulted in transformants that possessed low-affinity forms of PBP 2. These altered forms of PBP 2 have been shown to arise from recombinational events that replace parts of the PBP 2 gene with the corresponding regions from the PBP 2 genes of commensal Neisseria species.