Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Feb;175(2):482-5.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/175.2.482.

Dihydropteroate synthase polymorphisms in Pneumocystis carinii

B R Lane  1 , J C Ast, P A Hossler, D P Mindell, M S Bartlett, J W Smith, S R Meshnick
Affiliations

Dihydropteroate synthase polymorphisms in Pneumocystis carinii

B R Lane et al. J Infect Dis. 1997 Feb.

Abstract

Sulfa drugs are widely used in the treatment and prophylaxis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. The nucleotide sequences of the sulfa target enzyme, dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS), differed substantially in human-, rat-, and mouse-derived P. carinii. Sequence variation also existed in the DHPSs from human-derived isolates. Six nucleotide changes were found in 6 human isolates; each was nonsynonymous and resulted in an amino acid change. Several of these changes were in highly conserved regions and are similar to those that cause sulfa resistance in other organisms. These data suggest that the human-derived P. carinii DHPS may be evolving under positive selective pressure from sulfa drugs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types