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. 1985 May;162(2):551–557. doi: 10.1128/jb.162.2.551-557.1985

Chloramphenicol-erythromycin resistance mutations in a 23S rRNA gene of Escherichia coli.

M Ettayebi, S M Prasad, E A Morgan
PMCID: PMC218883  PMID: 3886627

Abstract

Two chloramphenicol resistance mutations were isolated in an Escherichia coli rRNA operon (rrnH) located on a multicopy plasmid. Both mutations also confer resistance to 14-atom lactone ring macrolide antibiotics, but they do not confer resistance to 16-atom lactone ring macrolide antibiotics or other inhibitors of the large ribosomal subunit. Classic genetic and recombinant DNA methods were used to map the two mutations to 154-base-pair regions of the 23S RNA genes. DNA sequencing of these regions revealed that chloramphenicol-erythromycin resistance results from a guanine-to-adenine transition at position 2057 of the 23S RNA genes of both independently isolated mutants. These mutations affect a region of 23S RNA strongly implicated in peptidyl transfer and known to interact with a variety of peptidyl transferase inhibitors.

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Selected References

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