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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
21

Biophysical Studies of Members of Four β-lactamase families

Shurina, Benjamin A. January 2022 (has links)
No description available.
22

Studies of Tricyclic β-lactams as Novel Antimicrobial Agents / 新規三環式β-ラクタム系抗生物質の探索研究

Sato, Jun 24 November 2023 (has links)
京都大学 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(工学) / 乙第13581号 / 論工博第4212号 / 新制||工||1990(附属図書館) / (主査)教授 松原 誠二郎, 教授 中尾 佳亮, 教授 浦山 健治 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM
23

Drug Design of β-Lactamase Inhibitors of the DBO-scaffold against OXA-48 : A Molecular Dynamics Study of Ligand Stability in the Michaelis Complex

Liljeholm, Linda January 2022 (has links)
The emergence of β-lactamase-mediated antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats in modern times. Combined with the discovery void of new forms of antibiotics, this sets the course toward a future where the efficacy of present-day health care will be jeopardized. To hinder the spread of β-lactamase-mediated antibiotic resistance, the development of the drug class β-lactamase inhibitors has been prioritized. The foremost candidate for development of this drug class, that has wide-spectrum inhibition of β-lactamases, is the clinically available avibactam of the diazabicyclooctane-scaffold (i.e., DBO-scaffold). However, the clinical applications of this inhibitor have been limited against one of the more rapidly spreading β-lactamases; OXA-48. In order to bolster the drug development of β-lactamase inhibitors of the DBO-scaffold, with good inhibitory activity toward OXA-48, DBO-ligands with different structure elements were analyzed for stability of the Michaelis Complex in the OXA-48 binding site using molecular dynamic simulations. The results indicate that elongation of the chain to the anionic group of the ligand combined with the addition of a methyl group to the DBO-ring was stabilizing for the productive position between the backbone hydrogens of Y211 and S70. The binding affinity was also estimated using the Linear Interaction Energy method, and an offset parameter of γ ≈ -19 kcal/mol was found and could represent the entropic differences of a flexible ligand-protein system. The results of this study may also indicate that the ligand stability of the Michaelis Complex is of minor consequence to the inhibition mechanism as a whole compared to the reaction rate.
24

Rsn-2-mediated directed foam enrichment of β-lactamase

Krause, Thomas, Keshavarzi, Behnam, Dressel, Jannes, Heitkam, Sascha, Ansorge-Schumacher, Marion B. 30 May 2024 (has links)
Today, the availability of methods for the activity-preserving and cost-efficient downstream processing of enzymes forms a major bottleneck to the use of these valuable tools in technical processes. A promising technology appears to be foam fractionation, which utilizes the adsorption of proteins at a gas–liquid interface. However, the employment of surfactants and the dependency of the applicability on individual properties of the target molecules are considerable drawbacks. Here, we demonstrate that a reversible fusion of the large, surface-active protein Ranaspumin-2 (Rsn-2) to a β-lactamase (Bla) enabled both surfactant-free formation of a stable foam and directed enrichment of the enzyme by the foaming. At the same time, Bla maintained 70% of its catalytic activity, which was in stark contrast to the enzyme without fusion to Rsn-2. Rsn-2 predominantly mediated adsorption. Comparable results were obtained after fusion to the structurally more complex penicillin G acylase (PGA) as the target enzyme. The results indicate that using a surface-active protein as a fusion tag might be the clue to the establishment of foam fractionation as a general method for enzyme downstream processing.
25

Structure-function relationships in metal dependent enzymes

Eleanor Wai Wai Leung Unknown Date (has links)
Metalloproteins account for at least half of all known proteins. Metal ions often facilitate chemical that are energetically and/or kinetically challenging. Metal ion-dependent proteins are responsible for a myriad of essential biological functions, including respiration, biosynthesis of essential amino acids, nitrogen fixation, oxygen transport, photosynthesis and metabolisms (e.g. glycolysis and citric acid cycle). Not surprisingly, a growing number of disorders (e.g. various cancers, phenylketonuria, Wilson’s disease) are associated with mutations in metalloenzymes. A general introduction of the importance of metals in biology is presented in chapter 1. This thesis is aimed at obtaining a greater understanding of the structure and function of three metalloenzymes, ketol acid reductoisomerase (KARI), purple acid phosphatase (PAP) and metallo β lactamase (MβL). Chapter 2 examines the structure and dynamics of plant KARI. KARI is an enzyme in the branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) biosynthesis pathway. KARI is a binuclear Mg2+ enzyme that catalyses the conversion of 2-acetolactate (AL) into (2R)-2,3-dihydroxy-3-isovalerate or 2-aceto-2-hydroxybutyrate into (2R, 3R)-2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylvalerate in the presence of NADPH. To date, the only reported structures for a plant KARI are those of the spinach enzyme-Mn2+-(phospho) ADP ribose-(2R,3R)-2,3-dihydroxy-3-methylvalerate complex and the spinach KARI-Mg2+-NADPH-N-hydroxy-N-isopropyloxamate complex, where N-hydroxy-N-isopropyloxamate (IpOHA) is a predicted transition-state analog. These studies demonstrate that the enzyme is consisted of two domains, N- domain and C- domain, with the active site at the interface of these domains. In this chapter, the structures of the rice KARI-Mg2+ and rice KARI-Mg2+-NADPH complexes were determined to 1.55 and 2.8 Å resolutions, respectively. Comparisons of all the available plant KARI structures have revealed several major differences. Firstly, the N-domain is rotated up to 15o relative to the C-domain, expanding the active site by up to 4 Å. Secondly, an α-helix in the C-domain that includes residues V510-T519 and forms part of the active site moves by ~ 3.9 Å upon binding of NADPH. Thirdly, the 15 C-terminal amino acid residues in the rice KARI-Mg2+ complex are disordered. In the rice KARI-Mg2+-NADPH complex and spinach KARI structures, many of the 15 residues bind to NADPH and the N-domain and cover the active site. Fourthly, the location of the metal ions within the active site can vary by up to 2.7 Å. The new structures have thus, led to the proposal of an induced-fit mechanism. In this proposed induced-fit mechanism, (i) substrate enters the active site, (ii) active site is closed during catalysis, and (iii) the opening of active site facilitates product release. PAP is also a binuclear metalloenzyme and is capable of utilizing a heterovalent active site to hydrolyse a broad range of phosphomonoester substrates. Chapter 3 examines the catalytic mechanism of PAP based on several new crystal structures. The red kidney bean PAP structure in complex in sulphate was determined to 2.4 Å. This sulphate-bound structure provides insight into the pre-catalytic phase of its reaction cycle. This stucture demonstrates the significance of an extensive hydrogen-bonding network in the second coordination in initial substrate binding and orientation prior to hydrolysis. Most importantly, the two metal ions, Fe3+ and Zn2+, are five-coordinate in this structure, with only one nucleophilic μ-hydroxide present in the metal-bridging position. In combination with kinetic, crystallographic and spectroscopic data, all PAP structures form the proposal of a comprehensive eight-step model for the catalytic mechanism of purple acid phosphatases in general. To date, no reliable method for producing recombinant PAP at levels suitable for structural biology have been reported. Natural sources are the only way so far to obtaining PAP in a large quantity. Attempts to produce active and recombinant PAP from Mycobacterium marinum using bacterial are found in chapter 4. In brief, in combination with Nus fusion tag, Rosetta (DE3) strain and lower temperature (e.g. 25oC), expression of soluble and mycobacterial PAP becomes possible. However, this soluble protein is non-functional and thus, switching into other expression system (e.g.algal sytem) is the only approach to obtain soluble and functional protein. In algal expression system, human PAP was attempted. Preliminary results indicate that some PAP activity was observed when expressed in algal system. Chapter 5 focuses on the investigation of metallo β lactamase (MβL) from Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp-MβL). This enzyme requires one or two Zn2+ ions for catalysis. Kinetic properties of Kp-MβL for the hydrolysis of various β-lactam substrates (e.g. benzyl-penicillin, cefoxitin, imipenem and meropenem) were investigated and the role of the metal ions in catalysis was also examined. Kinetic data demonstrate that Klebsiella pneumoniae MβL can degrade a broad spectrum of β-lactam antibiotics, with a high preference for cephems and carbapenems. Kinetic data from pH dependence studies has revealed that catalysis of benzyl-penicillin and meropenem is preferred at acidic pH. The kcat vs pH profile demonstrates that catalysis is enhanced by protonation, thus it is likely that the relevant group is responsible for the donation of a proton to the product or leaving group. In this case, a doubly Lewis activated, bridging hydroxide molecule has been speculated. A single protonation event (pKa ~7) is also observed in kcat/Km vs pH profile. Since benzyl-penicillin does not have an acidic moiety in this pH range, this event is likely to be associated with the free enzyme. His 79 and 139 have been speculated to enhance substrate binding. In contrast, catalysis of both cefoxitin and imipenem is favoured at alkaline pH, leading to the proposal that a terminally bound water is likely to form a nucleophile. A bell-shaped pH profile for kcat/Km is observed for cefoxitin and imipenem substrates. pKa of ~ 9-9.5 is likely to be associated with Lys161, which enhances substrate binding. In Chapter 6, a novel MβL from Serratia proteamaculans (Spr-MβL) is investigated. This chapter includes expression, purification and preliminary characterization of this MβL using steady-state kinetics. Expression of this enzyme in Rosetta (DE3) plysS E. coli strain yields only a small amount of soluble enzyme (1 mg/ 6 L culture). To improve the amount of soluble protein, Spr-MβL was subjected to several rounds of in vitro evolution. About two-fold gain in solubility was achieved by this method along with a five-fold increase in β-lactamase activity. Further rounds of directed evolution are now planned. The kinetic behaviour for Spr-MβL-catalysed the hydrolysis of three β-lactam substrates, penicillin, cefoxitin and imipenem were also studied. Kinetic data suggest that a water molecule bridging the two Zn2+ ions is the likely nucleophile in the reaction with penicillin while the reaction-initiating nucleophile is likely to be a terminally bound hydroxide in the reaction with cephalothin and imipenem (Chapter 6). In summary, this project has led to a better understanding of the structures of KARI and PAP prior to catalysis. This project has also aided in the understanding of catalytic mechanism of MβLs and the role the metal ions play. The knowledge gained will facilitate the development of new chemotherapeutics and herbicides.
26

Detecção de genes de resistência de Acinetobacter baumanii e Pseudomas aeruginosa multirresistentes e caracterização clínica dos pacientes em hospital público de Sergipe / Detection of Acinetobacter baumannii resistance genes and multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and clinical characterization of patients in public hospital in Sergipe

Santos, Fernanda Lays Souza Góes 30 September 2015 (has links)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa multiresistant are responsible for high morbidity and mortality, failure of drug therapy, increased hospital stay and consequently the financial impact on the health system. However, while the occurrence of these bacteria to configure a public health problem, numerous studies reveal that it is scarce information about the resistance genes present in multi-drug resistant bacteria. This reality associated with the negative impact of these on society, justifies the importance of detecting the resistance genes of A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa multiresistant and clinically characterize patients from a public hospital in Sergipe. It is an analytical prospective cohort study and a quantitative approach. The collection of clinical data of patients was carried out through a specifically designed form. Strains of A. baumannii were subjected to PCR for identification of resistance genes (blaIMP, blaVIM, blaSIM, bla OXA-51, blaOXA-58, blaOXA-23 and blaOXA-24) and P. aeruginosa the blaSPM genes, blaVIM, blaIMP, blaKPC. Descriptive analyzes were performed, the Chi-square and Fisher exact tests, with 5% significance level. The software used was R version 3.1.2. The sample consisted of 119 patients. Of the 43 patients with P. aeruginosa isolates, 33 were male (76.7%) with mean age of 46.2 years. Twenty-eight were admitted to the ICU (65.1%) and 13 (30.2%) diagnosed with head trauma (TBI). Of the 76 patients with isolates of A. baumannii, 59 (77.6%) were male, mean age of 44.4 years. Fifty patients (65.8%) were from the ICU and 18 (23.7%) diagnosed with TBI. The median number of days of hospitalization was statistically significant between bacteria. Among the isolation sites, there is urine to P. aeruginosa, with 16 samples (37.2%) and tracheal aspirate for A. baumannii with 32 (42.1%) strains. A urinary catheter was the most used device in patients with isolates of A. baumannii (93.4% - 71) and the central venous catheter in patients with P. aeruginosa (93% - 40). All patients with P. aeruginosa isolates made use of carbapenems and 98.6% (75) of A. baumannii. It found statistically significant differences between bacteria in the use of aminoglycosides, 3rd generation cephalosporins and tigecycline. In P. aeruginosa was no significant difference in the use of oxacillin and cephalosporins of 1st and 3rd generations and polymyxin in the various sectors of the hospital. All the samples of A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa were susceptible to colistin, ranging between MIC <= 0.5 and 2. The majority (55.8% - 24) patients with P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii (52.6% - 40) died. Among the 76 strains of A. baumannii, 56 (73.6%) had concomitant both blaOXA-51 and blaOXA-23 genes. Among the 43 strains of P. aeruginosa, 28 (65.1%) had the blaSPM gene. It was concluded that the A.baumannii was more frequent than P. aeruginosa. There was a significant predominance of Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter in the urine in tracheal aspirates. Carbapenems was widely used throughout the hospital stay of patients with Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas isolates in different hospital departments. Most Pseudomonas strains showed blaSPM resistance gene and Acinetobacter blaOXA-23 genes and blaOXA-51 concurrently. The mortality of patients with Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas was greater than 50%. / As infecções causadas por Acinetobacter baumannii e Pseudomonas aeruginosa multirresistentes são responsáveis pela alta morbidade e mortalidade, falência da terapia medicamentosa, aumento do período de internação e consequentemente impacto financeiro no sistema de saúde. Todavia, embora a ocorrência destas bactérias se configure um problema de saúde pública, inúmeros estudos revelam que é escasso o conhecimento acerca dos genes de resistência presentes nas bactérias multirresistentes. Essa realidade associada ao impacto negativo destas na sociedade, justifica a importância de detectar os genes de resistência de A. baumannii e P. aeruginosa multirresistentes e caracterizar clinicamente os pacientes de um hospital público de Sergipe. Trata-se de um estudo analítico de coorte prospectiva e abordagem quantitativa. A coleta dos dados clínicos dos pacientes foi realizada através de um formulário especificamente elaborado. As cepas de A. baumannii foram submetidas à técnica PCR para identificação dos genes de resistência (blaIMP, blaVIM, blaSIM, bla OXA-51, blaOXA-58, blaOXA-23 e blaOXA-24) e em P. aeruginosa os genes blaSPM, blaVIM, blaIMP, blaKPC. Foram realizadas análises descritivas, os testes de Qui-Quadrado e Exato de Fisher, com nível de significância de 5%. O software utilizado foi o R versão 3.1.2. A amostra foi constituída de 119 pacientes. Dos 43 pacientes com isolados de P.aeruginosa, 33 eram do sexo masculino (76,7%), com idade média de 46,2 anos. Vinte e oito estavam internados na UTI (65,1%) e 13 (30,2%) com diagnóstico de trauma crânio encefálico (TCE). Dos 76 pacientes com isolados de A. baumannii, 59 (77,6%) era do sexo masculino, média de idade de 44,4 anos. Cinquenta pacientes (65,8%) eram procedentes da UTI e 18 (23,7%) com diagnóstico de TCE. A mediana de dias de internamento foi estatisticamente significante entre as bactérias. Dentre os sítios de isolamento, destaca-se a urina para P. aeruginosa, com 16 amostras (37,2%) e o aspirado traqueal para A. baumannii com 32 (42,1%) cepas. A sonda vesical foi o dispositivo mais usado nos pacientes com isolados de A. baumannii (93,4% - 71) e o cateter venoso central nos pacientes com P. aeruginosa (93% - 40). Todos os pacientes com isolados de P.aeruginosa fizeram uso dos carbapenêmicos e 98,6% (75) dos A. baumannii. Foi encontrado diferença estatisticamente significante entre as bactérias quanto ao uso dos aminoglicosídeos, cefalosporinas de 3ª geração e tigeciclina. Em P. aeruginosa houve diferença significativa no uso da oxacilina e cefalosporinas de 1ª e 3ª gerações e polimixina nos diversos setores do hospital. Todos as amostras de A. baumannii e P. aeruginosa apresentaram sensibilidade à colistina, com variação da MIC entre < = 0,5 e 2. A maioria (55,8% - 24) dos pacientes com P. aeruginosa e A. baumannii (52,6% - 40) foram a óbito. Dentre as 76 cepas de A. baumannii, 56 (73,6%) apresentaram concomitantemente os dois genes blaOXA-51 e blaOXA-23. Dentre as 43 cepas de P. aeruginosa, 28 (65,1%) apresentaram o gene blaSPM. Concluiu-se que o A.baumannii foi mais frequente do que a P.aeruginosa. Houve predomínio significante da Pseudomonas na urina e do Acinetobacter na secreção traqueal. Os carbapenêmicos foi amplamente utilizado ao longo da internação dos pacientes com isolados de Acinetobacter e Pseudomonas nos diversos setores do hospital. A maioria das cepas de Pseudomonas apresentaram gene de resistência blaSPM e Acinetobacter os genes blaOXA-23 e blaOXA-51 concomitantemente. A mortalidade dos pacientes com Acinetobacter e Pseudomonas foi superior a 50%.
27

Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Evaluation of Novel (S,E)-11-[2-(Arylmethylene) Hydrazono] Pyrrolo [2,1-c] [1,4] Benzodiazepine Derivatives

Mingle, David 01 August 2019 (has links)
Pyrrolo [2,1-c] [1,4] benzodiazepine (PBD) is a class of natural products obtained from various actinomycetes which have both anti-tumor and antibiotic activities and can bind to specific sequences of DNA. PBD-dilactam was initially produced using isatoic anhydride and (L)-proline which was then converted to the PBD-thiolactam using Lawesson's reagent. Reaction of thiolactam with hydrazine in ethanol afforded PBD-11-hydrazinyl. Condensation of 11-hydrazinyl PBD with aldehydes possessing various substitutions was performed to obtain (S,E)-11-[2-(arylmethylene) hydrazono] pyrrolo [2,1-c] [1,4] benzodiazepine derivatives. 1HNMR, 13C-NMR, DEPT, IR, GC-MS and X-ray crystallography were used for the characterization. Inhibition activity of the products were carried out using TEM-1, AmpC and P99 β-lactamases. A minimal inhibition growth of 25% was observed for one of the selected PBDs on cancer cell line. A promising result was observed on preliminary cannabinoid binding activity test on one of the compounds.
28

Screening for carbapenemase-associated biomarkers in Klebsiella oxytoca using matrixassisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrom

Uppström, Hannah January 2022 (has links)
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are threatening human health, and the resistance is progressingfaster than the development of new antimicrobial compounds. Antibiotic resistant infections cost enormous sums of money and resources, but most importantly human lives. Therefore, early prediction and detection of antibiotic resistance in bacteria are research areas of high priority. The use of analytical instruments such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful tool for research in antibiotic resistant bacteria, both as quick microbe identification and for other areas in the field.Due to its relatively easy interpretable spectra provided by the soft ionization technique, and ability to ionize macromolecules without compromising sample integrity, it has also been used for biomarker screening for detection of antimicrobial resistance. Although these studies have shown promising results, the area is still progressing and needs further method development and standardized protocols. This study aimed to use MALDI-TOF MS for carbapenemaseassociated screening in Klebsiella oxytoca. The presumed key spectral peaks would derive from presence of the enzyme Verona integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase, type 1 (VIM-1), and would not be found if VIM-1 were absent. The isolates, carrying the enzyme, used in the study were isolated from wastewater and river water in Örebro, Sweden. Bacteria genus and species was determined by MALDI-TOF identification, whereupon the microbes were tested for antibiotic susceptibility using the disk diffusion method. Carbapenem hydrolysis assay was used to confirm the presence/absence of functional carbapenemase. A genotypic confirmation was performed by polymerase chain reaction and gel electrophoresis. Mass spectra from MALDI-TOF were compared for identification of possible biomarker peaks that could indicate carbapenem resistance. Nine key mass spectral peaks were found that could potentially be used as biomarkers in future studies. The peaks differentiated two groups of Klebsiella oxytocaisolates, one group producing functional carbapenemase and one group that did not, consistent with the aim of this study.
29

On bacterial formats in protein library technology

Löfdahl, Per-Åke January 2009 (has links)
Millions of years of evolution have resulted in an immense number of different proteins, which participate in virtually every process within cells and thus are of utmost importance for allknown forms of life. In addition, there are several examples of natural proteins which have found use in applications outside their natural environment, such as the use of enzymes infood industry and washing powders or the use of antibodies in diagnostic, bioseparation or therapeutic applications. To improve the performance of proteins in such applications, anumber of techniques, all collectively referred to as ‘protein engineering’, are performed in thelaboratory.Traditionally, methods involving ‘rational design’, where a few alterations are introduced atspecific protein locations to hopefully result in expected improvements have been applied.However, the use of more recent techniques involving a simultaneous construction of a large number of candidate variants (protein libraries) by various diversification principles, fromwhich rare clones showing enhanced properties can be isolated have contributed greatly to thefield of protein engineering.In the present thesis, different protein traits of biotechnological importance have beenaddressed for improvements by the use of such methods, in which there is a crucial need tomaintain a clonal link between the genotype and the phenotype to allow an identification of protein library members isolated by virtue of their functional properties. In all protein library investigations included in this thesis this coupling has been obtained by Escherichia coli bacterialcell-membrane compartmental confinement.In a first study, a combination of error prone PCR and gene-shuffling was applied to the Tobacco Etch Virus (TEV)-protease gene in order to produce collections from which genesencoding variants showing an enhanced soluble expression of the enzyme frequently used inbiotechnology to cleave fusion proteins were identified. Using Green Fluorescence Protein(GFP)-based cell fluorescence analysis, a clone with a five-fold increase in the yield of solubly produced protein was successfully isolated. In a second study, a novel and different GFPbased selection system, in addition also involving targeted in vivo protein degradation principles,was employed for investigations of the substrate sequence space of the same protease. In two additional studies, a selection system denoted Protein Fragment Complementation Assay(PCA), based on the affinity driven structural complementation of a genetically split β-lactamase enzyme was used to identify variants having desired target protein binding abilities,including both specificity and affinity. Using Darwinian principles concerning clonal growth advantages, affibody binding proteins showing sub-nanomolar dissociation constants to thehuman cytokine TNF-α were isolated. Taken together, these studies have shown that the bacterial format is very well suited for use in various aspects of protein library selection. / QC 20100729
30

SHV β-lactamases : DNA diagnostics and evolution

Hammond, David Scott January 2006 (has links)
TEM and SHV β-lactamases are the most prevalent β-lactamases among Gram-negative bacteria. The introduction and widespread use of expanded-spectrum antibiotics, particularly third generation cephalosporins, has led to the evolution of bacterial strains expressing extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs). ESBLs emerge by genetic point mutation from non-extended spectrum precursors. It was found that multiple β-lactamase families within single isolates complicate the process of detecting the resistance status of isolate using non-quantitative DNA diagnostic methods. Preliminary phenotypic characterisation of probable β-lactamase enzyme family types present in 100 isolates from the Asia-Pacific and South African locales showed that single isolates frequently contained multiple β-lactamase families. SHV, TEM, AMPC and CTX-M β-lactamase families were detected in these isolates using PCR detection methods. Ninety-eight percent of all isolates tested contained as least one β-lactamase gene, with up to four to β-lactamase gene families found to co-exist in single isolates. Kinetic PCR methods for interrogating the polymorphic sites at blaSHV codons 238 & 240 and blaTEM codons 164, 238, 240 as well as promoter polymorphism were developed. A high proportion of blaSHV 238 and 240 mutant alleles was found to correlate with cefotaxime, ceftazidime and aztreonam resistance levels. In an attempt to understand the molecular basis for the co-existence of multiple blaSHV alleles within single isolates, the blaSHV promoter region was cloned from one ESBL expressing isolate. Experimental results showed that blaSHV can exist downstream of two different promoters within a single isolate. Both promoters have previously been reported, and differ by the presence or absence of IS26, which results in a change in the transcription initiation site. The blaSHV gene copy numbers in cis with the different promoters were measured, and it was found that the copy number of the IS26::blaSHV promoter was positively correlated with resistance levels. Cloning and analysis of PCR products showed that different blaSHV variants existed in cis with promoters in individual isolates. However, mutant genes were more abundant downstream of the IS26 promoter. There were no ESBL+ isolates without this promoter. It was concluded that blaSHV in cis with the IS26 promoter is located on an amplifiable replicon, and the presence of the IS26 insertion may facilitate the acquisition of an ESBL+ phenotype. To further confirm the role of IS26 in resistance acquisition, ESBL negative isolates were subjected to serial passage in vitro evolution experiments and fluctuation assays. Results confirm that the insertion of the IS26 element upstream of blaSHV is positively correlated with the ability to exhibit an ESBL phenotype, when such isolates also contain the critical G238S substitution. It was also found that IS26 can catalyse the duplication and mobilisation of blaSHV within an isolate. Fluctuation experiments have shown that the frequency at which such genomic events occur resulting in ESBL phenotypes is extremely low and requires many generations of selection under sub-lethal conditions. A survey of a geographically diverse set of isolates has shown that IS26-blaSHV was found in all of the bacterial populations surveyed. However, it does not appear to be exclusively associated with SHV-mediated ESBL production.

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