Resistance of Gram-positive bacteria to nisin is not determined by lipid II levels

Naomi E Kramer; Eddy J Smid; Jan Kok; Ben de Kruijff; Oscar P Kuipers; Eefjan Breukink

doi:10.1016/j.femsle.2004.08.033

Resistance of Gram-positive bacteria to nisin is not determined by lipid II levels

FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2004 Oct 1;239(1):157-61. doi: 10.1016/j.femsle.2004.08.033.

Authors

Naomi E Kramer¹, Eddy J Smid, Jan Kok, Ben de Kruijff, Oscar P Kuipers, Eefjan Breukink

Affiliation

¹ NIZO Food Research, P.O. Box 20, 6710 BA, Ede, Netherlands. n.e.kramer@biol.rug.nl

PMID: 15451114
DOI: 10.1016/j.femsle.2004.08.033

Abstract

Lipid II is essential for nisin-mediated pore formation at nano-molar concentrations. We tested whether nisin resistance could result from different Lipid II levels, by comparing the maximal Lipid II pool in Micrococcus flavus (sensitive) and Listeria monocytogenes (relatively insensitive) and their nisin-resistant variants, with a newly developed method. No correlation was observed between the maximal Lipid II pool and nisin sensitivity, as was further corroborated by using spheroplasts of nisin-resistant and wild-type strains of M. flavus, which were equally sensitive to nisin.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
Drug Resistance, Bacterial*
Gram-Positive Bacteria / drug effects*
Listeria monocytogenes / drug effects
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Micrococcus / drug effects
Nisin / pharmacology*
Polyisoprenyl Phosphates / chemistry
Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylmuramic Acid / analogs & derivatives*
Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylmuramic Acid / chemistry
Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylmuramic Acid / metabolism*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Polyisoprenyl Phosphates
Uridine Diphosphate N-Acetylmuramic Acid
muramyl-NAc-(pentapeptide)pyrophosphoryl-undecaprenol
Nisin
bactoprenylpyrophosphate