A Single Amino Acid Replacement in Penicillin-Binding Protein 2X in Streptococcus pyogenes Significantly Increases Fitness on Subtherapeutic Benzylpenicillin Treatment in a Mouse Model of Necrotizing Myositis. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Invasive strains of Streptococcus pyogenes with significantly reduced susceptibility to β-lactam antibiotics have been recently described. These reports have caused considerable concern in the international infectious disease, medical microbiology, and public health communities because S. pyogenes has remained universally susceptible to β-lactam antibiotics for 70 years. Virtually all analyzed strains had single amino acid replacements in penicillin-binding protein 2X (PBP2X), a major target of β-lactam antibiotics in pathogenic bacteria. We used isogenic strains to test the hypothesis that a single amino acid replacement in PBP2X conferred a fitness advantage in a mouse model of necrotizing myositis. We determined that when mice were administered intermittent subtherapeutic dosing of benzylpenicillin, the strain with a Pro601Leu amino acid replacement in PBP2X that confers reduced β-lactam susceptibility in vitro was more fit, as assessed by the magnitude of colony-forming units recovered from disease tissue. These data provide important pathogenesis information that bears on this emerging global infectious disease problem.

publication date

  • May 11, 2020

Research

keywords

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Fasciitis, Necrotizing
  • Myositis
  • Penicillin G
  • Penicillin-Binding Proteins
  • Streptococcus pyogenes

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC7397459

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85088216898

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.ajpath.2020.04.014

PubMed ID

  • 32407732

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 190

issue

  • 8