APPEARANCE OF AMIKACIN AND TOBRAMYCIN RESISTANCE DUE TO 4'-AMINOGLYCOSIDE NUCLEOTIDYLTRANSFERASE [ANT(4')-II] IN GRAM-NEGATIVE PATHOGENS

Following the use of amikacin as the principal aminoglycoside at a Denver hospital, amikacin resistance appeared first in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and then in Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and other enteric organisms from debilitated and compromised patients who had spent time in intensive care units and who had been treated with multiple antibiotics, usually including amikacin. In a P. aeruginosa isolate, resistance to amikacin and tobramycin was transferable by the IncP-2 plasmid pMG77, while in E. coli and K. pneumoniae resistance was carried by the transmissible plasmids pMG220, pMG221, and pMG222 belonging to the IncM group. Isolates and transconjugants produced an enzyme with adenylyltransferase activity with substrates having a 4'-hydroxyl group, such as amikacin, kanamycin, neomycin, Sch 21768, isepamicin (Sch 21420), or tobramycin, but not with aminoglycosides lacking this target, such as dibekacin, netilmicin, sisomicin, or gentamicin C components. Genes encoding the 4'-aminoglycoside nucleotidyltransferase [ANT(4')] activity were cloned from pMG77, pMG221, and pMG222. A DNA probe prepared from the ANT(4') found in P. aeruginosa hybridized with the ANT(4') determinant found in E. coli. A probe for the ANT(4') from Staphylococcal spp., which differs in its modification of substrates, like dibekacin, that have a 4''- but not a 4'-hydroxyl group, failed to hybridize with the gram-negative ANT(4') determinant, which consequently has been termed ANT(4')-II.