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. 1998 Feb;42(2):257-62.
doi: 10.1128/AAC.42.2.257.

A novel erythromycin resistance methylase gene (ermTR) in Streptococcus pyogenes

H Seppälä  1 , M Skurnik, H Soini, M C Roberts, P Huovinen
Affiliations

A novel erythromycin resistance methylase gene (ermTR) in Streptococcus pyogenes

H Seppälä et al. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1998 Feb.

Abstract

Erythromycin resistance among streptococci is commonly due to target site modification by an rRNA-methylating enzyme, which results in coresistance to macrolide, lincosamide, and streptogramin B antibiotics (MLSB resistance). Genes belonging to the ermAM (ermB) gene class are the only erythromycin resistance methylase (erm) genes in Streptococcus pyogenes with MLSB resistance that have been sequenced so far. We identified a novel erm gene, designated ermTR, from an erythromycin-resistant clinical strain of S. pyogenes (strain A200) with an inducible type of MLSB resistance. The nucleotide sequence of ermTR is 82.5% identical to ermA, previously found, for example, in Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci. Our finding provides the first sequence of an erm gene other than ermAM that mediates MLSB resistance in S. pyogenes.

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Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Nucleotide sequence of the ermTR gene of S. pyogenes A200 and its leader sequence. The ribosome-binding sites (Shine-Dalgarno sequence) and the ORFs (boldface) are indicated. The ermTR gene has been aligned with the ermA gene, and only those nucleotides of ermA that differ from the ermTR sequence are shown.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
Predicted amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded by the ermTR gene of S. pyogenes A200. The sequence has been aligned with the predicted amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded by the ermA gene, and only those amino acids that differ are shown below the sequence. The 56 identical amino acids that are encoded by different codons are indicated by black spots above the sequence.
FIG. 3
FIG. 3
Dendrogram of methylases encoded by different erm genes. The source of the amino acid sequence is indicated by the GenBank accession number, the bacterial species, and the name of the gene, if given. The percent identity of the predicted amino acid sequences of the polypeptides encoded by different erm genes to the predicted amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded by the ermTR gene of S. pyogenes A200 is marked on the dendrogram. Note that the most remote methylases associated with resistance to MLSB antibiotics were not included in this analysis.
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