Comparison of the metabolic activities of four wild-type Clostridium perfringens strains with their gatifloxacin-selected resistant mutants

Arch Microbiol. 2009 Dec;191(12):895-902. doi: 10.1007/s00203-009-0518-3. Epub 2009 Oct 24.

Abstract

The production of short-chain fatty acids, reductive enzymes, and hydrolytic enzymes by four gatifloxacin-selected, fluoroquinolone-resistant, mutant strains of C. perfringens, with stable mutations either in DNA gyrase or in both DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, was compared with that produced by the wild-type parent strains to investigate the effect of mutations associated with the selection of gatifloxacin resistance on bacterial metabolic activities. The mutants differed from their respective wild-type parent strains in the enzymatic activities of azoreductase, nitroreductase, and beta-glucosidase and in the ratio of butyric acid to acetic acid production. Microarray analysis of one wild type and the corresponding mutant revealed different levels of mRNA expression for the enzymes involved in short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) synthesis and for beta-glucosidase and oxidoreductases. In addition to mutations in the target genes, selection of resistance to gatifloxacin resulted in strain-specific physiological changes in the resistant mutants of C. perfringens that affected their metabolic activities.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cellulases / metabolism
  • Clostridium perfringens / classification
  • Clostridium perfringens / enzymology
  • Clostridium perfringens / genetics*
  • Clostridium perfringens / metabolism*
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial / physiology
  • Fluoroquinolones / pharmacology*
  • Gatifloxacin
  • Mutation
  • NADH, NADPH Oxidoreductases / metabolism
  • Nitroreductases / metabolism

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Fluoroquinolones
  • NADH, NADPH Oxidoreductases
  • Nitroreductases
  • azoreductase
  • Cellulases
  • Gatifloxacin