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. 1994 Dec;176(24):7744–7747. doi: 10.1128/jb.176.24.7744-7747.1994

A spontaneous point mutation in the single 23S rRNA gene of the thermophilic arachaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius confers multiple drug resistance.

C Aagaard 1, H Phan 1, S Trevisanato 1, R A Garrett 1
PMCID: PMC197236  PMID: 8002603

Abstract

Development of transformable vectors for thermophilic archaea requires the characterization of appropriate selectable marker genes. Many antibiotic inhibitors of protein biosynthesis are known to bind to rRNA; therefore, we screened 14 for their capacity to inhibit growth of the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius. Carbomycin, celesticetin, chloramphenicol, puromycin, sparsomycin, tetracycline, and thiostrepton all inhibited growth by different degrees. Spontaneous drug-resistant mutants were isolated from plates containing celesticetin or chloramphenicol. Six mutants from each plate exhibited a C-2585-to-U transition in the peptidyl transferase loop of 23S rRNA (corresponding to C-2452 in Escherichia coli 23S rRNA). The single-site mutation also conferred resistance to carbomycin. The mutated 23S rRNA gene provides a potentially useful and dominant marker for a thermophilic archael vector.

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Selected References

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