Analysis of regulatory region of ermAM genes in streptococci and enterococci highly resistant to macrolides and lincosamides

Epitranscriptional m6A modification of rRNA negatively impacts translation and host colonization in Staphylococcus aureus

Macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramin B (MLS) are structurally distinct molecules that are among the safest antibiotics for prophylactic use and for the treatment of bacterial infections. The family of erythromycin resistance methyltransferases (Erm) invariantly install either one or two methyl groups onto the N6,6-adenosine of 2058 nucleotide (m6A2058) of the bacterial 23S rRNA, leading to bacterial cross-resistance to all MLS antibiotics. Despite extensive structural studies on the mechanism of Erm-mediated MLS resistance, how the m6A epitranscriptomic mark affects ribosome function and bacterial physiology is not well understood. Here, we show that Staphylococcus aureus cells harboring m6A2058 ribosomes are outcompeted by cells carrying unmodified ribosomes during infections and are severely impaired in colonization in the absence of an unmodified counterpart. The competitive advantage of m6A2058 ribosomes is manifested only upon antibiotic challenge. Using ribosome profiling (Ribo-Seq) and a dual-fluorescence reporter to measure ribosome occupancy and translational fidelity, we found that specific genes involved in host interactions, metabolism, and information processing are disproportionally deregulated in mRNA translation. This dysregulation is linked to a substantial reduction in translational capacity and fidelity in m6A2058 ribosomes. These findings point to a general "inefficient translation" mechanism of trade-offs associated with multidrug-resistant ribosomes.

The Expression of Antibiotic Resistance Methyltransferase Correlates with mRNA Stability Independently of Ribosome Stalling

Members of the Erm methyltransferase family modify 23S rRNA of the bacterial ribosome and render cross-resistance to macrolides and multiple distantly related antibiotics. Previous studies have shown that the expression of erm is activated when a macrolide-bound ribosome stalls the translation of the leader peptide preceding the cotranscribed erm. Ribosome stalling is thought to destabilize the inhibitory stem-loop mRNA structure and exposes the erm Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence for translational initiation. Paradoxically, mutations that abolish ribosome stalling are routinely found in hyper-resistant clinical isolates; however, the significance of the stalling-dead leader sequence is largely unknown. Here, we show that nonsense mutations in the Staphylococcus aureus ErmB leader peptide (ErmBL) lead to high basal and induced expression of downstream ErmB in the absence or presence of macrolide concomitantly with elevated ribosome methylation and resistance. The overexpression of ErmB is associated with the reduced turnover of the ermBL-ermB transcript, and the macrolide appears to mitigate mRNA cleavage at a site immediately downstream of the ermBL SD sequence. The stabilizing effect of antibiotics on mRNA is not limited to ermBL-ermB; cationic antibiotics representing a ribosome-stalling inducer and a noninducer increase the half-life of specific transcripts. These data unveil a new layer of ermB regulation and imply that ErmBL translation or ribosome stalling serves as a “tuner” to suppress aberrant production of ErmB because methylated ribosome may impose a fitness cost on the bacterium as a result of misregulated translation.

Antimicrobial growth promoters used in animal feed: effects of less well known antibiotics on gram-positive bacteria

There are not many data available on antibiotics used solely in animals and almost exclusively for growth promotion. These products include bambermycin, avilamycin, efrotomycin, and the ionophore antibiotics (monensin, salinomycin, narasin, and lasalocid). Information is also scarce for bacitracin used only marginally in human and veterinary medicine and for streptogramin antibiotics. The mechanisms of action of and resistance mechanisms against these antibiotics are described. Special emphasis is given to the prevalence of resistance among gram-positive bacteria isolated from animals and humans. Since no susceptibility breakpoints are available for most of the antibiotics discussed, an alternative approach to the interpretation of MICs is presented. Also, some pharmacokinetic data and information on the influence of these products on the intestinal flora are presented.

A new ketolide, HMR 3004, active against streptococci inducibly resistant to erythromycin

HMR 3004 is a new hydrazono ketolide characterized by a 3-keto function instead of the cladinose moiety. The effect of this antimicrobial agent on inducible and constitutive macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) resistance was tested in a lacZ reporter system under control of several ermAM-like attenuator variants. For one constitutively resistant Streptococcus agalactiae strain, three inducibly resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae strains, and one inducibly resistant Enterococcus faecalis strain, the attenuators fused with lacZ were cloned into the shuttle plasmid pJIM2246 and the plasmid was introduced into Staphylococcus aureus RN4220. For the wild-type attenuators, HMR 3004 was a very weak inducer, unlike its cladinose counterpart RU 6652 and erythromycin. As expected, for the fusion originating from the constitutively resistant S. agalactiae strain, the level of uninduced beta-galactosidase synthesis was high. For one S. pneumoniae attenuator, mutations in the 3' end of the attenuator that weakened the stem-loop structure that sequesters the ribosome-binding site and start codon for ermAM methylase could explain the high level of uninduced beta-galactosidase produced. For streptococci, the activity of HMR 3004 correlated with the basal level of beta-galactosidase synthesized. The weak inducer activity of HMR 3004 explained its activity against inducibly MLSB-resistant S. pneumoniae but did not correlate with the moderate activity of the antibiotic against inducibly resistant E. faecalis.