# | Rank | Similarity | Title + Abs. | Year | PMID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 9827 | 0 | 1.0000 | Evolution of bacterial resistance to antibiotics during the last three decades. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is often plasmid-mediated and the associated genes encoded by transposable elements. These elements play a central role in evolution by providing mechanisms for the generation of diversity and, in conjunction with DNA transfer systems, for the dissemination of resistances to other bacteria. At the University Hospital of Zaragoza, extensive efforts have been made to define both the dissemination and evolution of antibiotic resistance by studying the transferable R plasmids and transposable elements. Here we describe the research on bacterial resistance to antibiotics in which many authors listed in the references have participated. The aspects of bacterial resistance dealt with are: (i) transferable resistance mediated by R plasmids in Gram-negative bacteria, (ii) R plasmid-mediated resistance to apramycin and hygromycin in clinical strains, (iii) the transposon Tn1696 and the integron In4, (iv) expression of Escherichia coli resistance genes in Haemophilus influenzae, (v) aminoglycoside-modifying-enzymes in the genus Mycobacterium with no relation to resistance, and (vi) macrolide-resistance and new mechanisms developed by Gram-positive bacteria. | 1998 | 10943375 |
| 4835 | 1 | 0.9999 | Genetic and biochemical basis of resistance of Enterobacteriaceae to beta-lactam antibiotics. Resistance to beta-lactam drugs is usually determined by genes mediating the production of beta-lactamases. These genes can be located on resistance plasmids or on the chromosome. Resistance to drugs which have been available for many years is mostly transposable. Although the origin of these genes is not known, it is possible to draw a hypothetical flow diagram of the evolution of resistance genes in general. The mechanism of resistance although mediated in Gram-negative bacteria mostly by beta-lactamases cannot be simply described as the hydrolytic function of the enzyme. It is a complex interaction involving the affinity of the drug for the target and the lactamase, the amount of drug in the periplasmic space, the amount of enzyme and the number of lethal target sites. Usually one of these factors is predominant. | 1986 | 3491818 |
| 4151 | 2 | 0.9999 | Evolutionary relationships among genes for antibiotic resistance. The genes that determine resistance to antibiotics are commonly found encoded by extrachromosomal elements in bacteria. These were described first in Enterobacteriaceae and subsequently in a variety of other genera; their spread is associated with the increased use of antibiotics in human and animal medicine. Antibiotic-resistance genes that determine the production of enzymes which modify (detoxify) the antibiotics have been detected in antibiotic-producing organisms. It has been suggested that the producing strains provided the source of antibiotic-resistance genes that were then 'picked-up' by recombination. Recent studies of the nucleotide sequence of certain antibiotic-resistance genes indicate regions of strong homology in the encoded proteins. The implications of these similarities are discussed. | 1984 | 6559117 |
| 4472 | 3 | 0.9999 | Conjugative plasmids in bacteria of the 'pre-antibiotic' era. Antibiotic resistance is common in bacteria that cause disease in man and animals and is usually determined by plasmids. The prevalence of such plasmids, and the range of drugs to which they confer resistance, have increased greatly in the past 25 yr. It has become clear from work in many laboratories that plasmids have acquired resistance genes, of ultimately unknown origin, as insertions into their circular DNA. The intensive use of antibiotics since their introduction in the 1940s can explain the spread of plasmids that have acquired such genes but little is known of the incidence of plasmids in pathogenic bacteria before the widespread use of antibiotics in medicine. E.D.G. Murray collected strains of Enterobacteriaceae from 1917 to 1954; we now report that 24% of these encode information for the transfer of DNA from one bacterium to another. From at least 19% of the strains, conjugative plasmids carrying no antibiotic resistance were transferred to Escherichia coli K-12. | 1983 | 6835408 |
| 4423 | 4 | 0.9999 | Inactivation of antibiotics and the dissemination of resistance genes. The emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is a phenomenon of concern to the clinician and the pharmaceutical industry, as it is the major cause of failure in the treatment of infectious diseases. The most common mechanism of resistance in pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics of the aminoglycoside, beta-lactam (penicillins and cephalosporins), and chloramphenicol types involves the enzymic inactivation of the antibiotic by hydrolysis or by formation of inactive derivatives. Such resistance determinants most probably were acquired by pathogenic bacteria from a pool of resistance genes in other microbial genera, including antibiotic-producing organisms. The resistance gene sequences were subsequently integrated by site-specific recombination into several classes of naturally occurring gene expression cassettes (typically "integrons") and disseminated within the microbial population by a variety of gene transfer mechanisms. Although bacterial conjugation once was believed to be restricted in host range, it now appears that this mechanism of transfer permits genetic exchange between many different bacterial genera in nature. | 1994 | 8153624 |
| 4427 | 5 | 0.9999 | Mechanisms of quinolone action and microbial response. Over the years, chromosomal mapping of the bacterial genome of Escherichia coli has demonstrated that many loci are associated with quinolone resistance, which is mainly a result of chromosomal mutation or alteration of the quantity or type of porins in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. There has been one report of a small and confined episode of plasmid-mediated resistance to fluoroquinolones, which did not appear to persist. With the increasingly widespread use of an expanding range of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, a range and mix in individual bacterial isolates of the different mechanisms of resistance to fluoroquinolones will undoubtedly be encountered amongst clinically significant bacteria. Currently, transferable resistance is extremely rare and most resistant bacteria arise from clonal expansion of mutated strains. However, it is conceivable that in the future, horizontal gene transfer may become a more important means of conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones. | 2003 | 12702701 |
| 4150 | 6 | 0.9999 | The worldwide emergence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance. Fluoroquinolone resistance is emerging in gram-negative pathogens worldwide. The traditional understanding that quinolone resistance is acquired only through mutation and transmitted only vertically does not entirely account for the relative ease with which resistance develops in exquisitely susceptible organisms, or for the very strong association between resistance to quinolones and to other agents. The recent discovery of plasmid-mediated horizontally transferable genes encoding quinolone resistance might shed light on these phenomena. The Qnr proteins, capable of protecting DNA gyrase from quinolones, have homologues in water-dwelling bacteria, and seem to have been in circulation for some time, having achieved global distribution in a variety of plasmid environments and bacterial genera. AAC(6')-Ib-cr, a variant aminoglycoside acetyltransferase capable of modifying ciprofloxacin and reducing its activity, seems to have emerged more recently, but might be even more prevalent than the Qnr proteins. Both mechanisms provide low-level quinolone resistance that facilitates the emergence of higher-level resistance in the presence of quinolones at therapeutic levels. Much remains to be understood about these genes, but their insidious promotion of substantial resistance, their horizontal spread, and their co-selection with other resistance elements indicate that a more cautious approach to quinolone use and a reconsideration of clinical breakpoints are needed. | 2006 | 17008172 |
| 4133 | 7 | 0.9999 | Importance of integrons in the diffusion of resistance. Horizontal transfer of resistance genes is a successful mechanism for the transmission and dissemination of multiple drug resistance among bacterial pathogens. The impact of horizontally transmitted genetic determinants in the evolution of resistance is particularly evident when resistance genes are physically associated in clusters and transferred en bloc to the recipient cell. Recent advances in the molecular characterisation of antibiotic resistance mechanisms have highlighted the existence of genetic structures. called integrons, involved in the acquisition of resistance genes. These DNA elements have frequently been reported in multi-drug resistant strains isolated from animals and humans, and are located either on the bacterial chromosome or on broad-host-range plasmids. The role of integrons in the development of multiple resistance relies on their unique capacity to cluster and express drug resistance genes. Moreover, the spread of resistance genes among different replicons and their exchange between plasmid and bacterial chromosome are facilitated by the integration of integrons into transposable elements. The association of a highly efficient gene capture and expression system, together with the capacity for vertical and horizontal transmission of resistance genes represents a powerful weapon used by bacteria to combat the assault of antibiotics. | 2001 | 11432416 |
| 4134 | 8 | 0.9998 | Plasmid-Mediated Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococci and Other Firmicutes. In staphylococci and other Firmicutes, resistance to numerous classes of antimicrobial agents, which are commonly used in human and veterinary medicine, is mediated by genes that are associated with mobile genetic elements. The gene products of some of these antimicrobial resistance genes confer resistance to only specific members of a certain class of antimicrobial agents, whereas others confer resistance to the entire class or even to members of different classes of antimicrobial agents. The resistance mechanisms specified by the resistance genes fall into any of three major categories: active efflux, enzymatic inactivation, and modification/replacement/protection of the target sites of the antimicrobial agents. Among the mobile genetic elements that carry such resistance genes, plasmids play an important role as carriers of primarily plasmid-borne resistance genes, but also as vectors for nonconjugative and conjugative transposons that harbor resistance genes. Plasmids can be exchanged by horizontal gene transfer between members of the same species but also between bacteria belonging to different species and genera. Plasmids are highly flexible elements, and various mechanisms exist by which plasmids can recombine, form cointegrates, or become integrated in part or in toto into the chromosomal DNA or into other plasmids. As such, plasmids play a key role in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes within the gene pool to which staphylococci and other Firmicutes have access. This chapter is intended to provide an overview of the current knowledge of plasmid-mediated antimicrobial resistance in staphylococci and other Firmicutes. | 2014 | 26104453 |
| 4419 | 9 | 0.9998 | Epidemiology of tetracycline-resistance determinants. Resistance to tetracycline is generally due either to energy-dependent efflux of tetracycline or to protection of the bacterial ribosomes from the action of tetracycline. The genes that encode this resistance are normally acquired via transferable plasmids and/or transposons. Tet determinants have been found in a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and have reduced the effectiveness of therapy with tetracycline. | 1994 | 7850200 |
| 4418 | 10 | 0.9998 | Bacterial resistance to tetracycline: mechanisms, transfer, and clinical significance. Tetracycline has been a widely used antibiotic because of its low toxicity and broad spectrum of activity. However, its clinical usefulness has been declining because of the appearance of an increasing number of tetracycline-resistant isolates of clinically important bacteria. Two types of resistance mechanisms predominate: tetracycline efflux and ribosomal protection. A third mechanism of resistance, tetracycline modification, has been identified, but its clinical relevance is still unclear. For some tetracycline resistance genes, expression is regulated. In efflux genes found in gram-negative enteric bacteria, regulation is via a repressor that interacts with tetracycline. Gram-positive efflux genes appear to be regulated by an attenuation mechanism. Recently it was reported that at least one of the ribosome protection genes is regulated by attenuation. Tetracycline resistance genes are often found on transmissible elements. Efflux resistance genes are generally found on plasmids, whereas genes involved in ribosome protection have been found on both plasmids and self-transmissible chromosomal elements (conjugative transposons). One class of conjugative transposon, originally found in streptococci, can transfer itself from streptococci to a variety of recipients, including other gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and mycoplasmas. Another class of conjugative transposons has been found in the Bacteroides group. An unusual feature of the Bacteroides elements is that their transfer is enhanced by preexposure to tetracycline. Thus, tetracycline has the double effect of selecting for recipients that acquire a resistance gene and stimulating transfer of the gene. | 1992 | 1423217 |
| 4424 | 11 | 0.9998 | Gene transfer, gentamicin resistance and enterococci. Enterococci are versatile pathogens by virtue of their ability to exhibit low-level intrinsic resistance to clinically useful antibiotics and their tolerance to adverse environmental conditions. In the last 20 years these pathogens have become progressively more difficult to treat because of their aptitude for acquiring antibiotic-resistance genes. Of increasing concern is the rapid dissemination of the AAC6'-APH2" bi-functional aminoglycoside modifying enzyme. This enzyme confers high-level resistance to gentamicin and all other related aminoglycosides with the exception of streptomycin. The gene conferring this phenotype has been associated with both narrow and broad host range plasmids, and has recently been found on conjugative transposons. The nature of these conjugative elements raises the possibility of the resistance gene spreading to other pathogenic bacteria. | 1997 | 9261754 |
| 4836 | 12 | 0.9998 | Genes and spectrum: the theoretical limits. Antibiotic resistance can result either from mutations within a chromosomal gene or from mobile genes imported from outside. In the last 15 years, some of these mobile genes have shown a propensity to adapt to successive antibiotic challenges, the most versatile being the class A beta-lactamases. The TEM and SHV beta-lactamase nuclei, usually after one initial critical mutation, allow a series of successive mutations that increase the spectrum to hydrolyze most cephalosporins. The class C beta-lactamases also show some versatility; while it migrates from the chromosome, subtle changes can occur in the gene to broaden the spectrum. Trimethoprim resistance has shown less adaptability in gram-negative bacteria, but in gram-positive organisms the plasmid has captured the chromosomal dihydrofolate reductase of Staphylococcus epidermidis, and a minimal number of changes have occurred that decrease the binding of trimethroprim. Other resistance mechanisms appear less adaptable, relying rather on the importation of new genes to cope with new challenges. | 1998 | 9710668 |
| 4417 | 13 | 0.9998 | Genetic mobility and distribution of tetracycline resistance determinants. Since 1953, tetracycline-resistant bacteria have been found increasingly in humans, animals, food and the environment. Tetracycline resistance is normally due to the acquisition of new genes and is primarily due to either energy-dependent efflux of tetracycline or protection of the ribosomes from its action. Gram-negative efflux genes are frequently associated with conjugative plasmids, whereas Gram-positive efflux genes are often found on small mobilizable plasmids or in the chromosome. The ribosomal protection genes are generally associated with conjugative transposons which have a preference for the chromosome. Recently, tetracycline resistance genes have been found in the genera Mycobacterium, Nocardia, Streptomyces and Treponema. The Tet M determinant codes for a ribosomal protection protein which can be found in Gram-positive, Gram-negative, cell-wall-free, aerobic, anaerobic, pathogenic, opportunistic and normal flora species. This promiscuous nature may be correlated with its location on a conjugative transposon and its ability to cross most biochemical and physical barriers found in bacteria. The Tet B efflux determinant is unlike other efflux gene products because it confers resistance to tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline and has the widest host range of all Gram-negative efflux determinants. We have hypothesized that mobility and the environment of the bacteria may help influence the ultimate host range of specific tet genes. If we are to reverse the trend towards increasingly antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria, we will need to change how antibiotics are used in both human and animal health as well as food production. | 1997 | 9189643 |
| 4830 | 14 | 0.9998 | Mechanisms of resistance to quinolones. The increased use of fluoroquinolones has led to increasing resistance to these antimicrobials, with rates of resistance that vary by both organism and geographic region. Resistance to fluoroquinolones typically arises as a result of alterations in the target enzymes (DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV) and of changes in drug entry and efflux. Mutations are selected first in the more susceptible target: DNA gyrase, in gram-negative bacteria, or topoisomerase IV, in gram-positive bacteria. Additional mutations in the next most susceptible target, as well as in genes controlling drug accumulation, augment resistance further, so that the most-resistant isolates have mutations in several genes. Resistance to quinolones can also be mediated by plasmids that produce the Qnr protein, which protects the quinolone targets from inhibition. Qnr plasmids have been found in the United States, Europe, and East Asia. Although Qnr by itself produces only low-level resistance, its presence facilitates the selection of higher-level resistance mutations, thus contributing to the alarming increase in resistance to quinolones. | 2005 | 15942878 |
| 9828 | 15 | 0.9998 | Antibiotic resistance: genetic mechanisms and mobility. Based on the current knowledge, resistance genes seems mainly to originate in the organisms which produce antibiotics (Davies 1994). We lack considerably in the understanding of how these genes were transferred to pathogenic bacteria, and due to the enormous diversity of e.g. the soil flora, it is doubtful that we will ever obtain more that a faint picture of this. In Gram negative bacteria, more and more resistance genes are demonstrated to be located in integrons (e.g. beta-lactamase and streptomycin resistance genes in Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 (Sandvang et al. in press)). Integrons seem primarily to act as insertion sites for resistance genes. The origin of integrons as well as the resistance gene cassettes that are the other essential element of this system, is largely unknown (Hall & Collis 1995). Integrons can be located in the chromosome, in transposons, which have the ability to copy them themselves to other DNA molecules, or on plasmids. The emergence of resistant bacteria normally happens because of selection for a resistant clone of bacteria. Several mechanisms, however, exists by which the resistance genes can be transferred from one bacteria to another. Conjugation, mediated by plasmids or conjugative transposons, is currently the most well established of these mechanisms. Still, however, the selection pressure created by the use of antibiotics determines whether bacteria that have newly acquired a resistance gene expand to dominate in the population or remains a blink in history. | 1999 | 10783713 |
| 4470 | 16 | 0.9998 | R-factors in gram-positive and gram-negative aerobic bacteria selected by antimicrobial therapy. Populations of resistant bacteria emerge by the operation of selective pressure on resistant bacteria. The acquisition of resistance by sensitive bacteria is dependent upon the genetic determinant of the resistance, and its ability to move between different bacterial cells and within cells between different replicons. In contrast to chromosomal mediated resistance, plasmids and transposable elements coding for resistance to antibiotics have been the major factors in the spread of resistance and the prevalence of resistant bacteria in humans, farm animals and poultry. Different types of R-factors can be described. Resistance to ampicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, trimethoprim, erythromycin may exemplify epidemiological aspects of resistance genes in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The ecological destiny of resistant bacterial populations suggests the role of other factors than antibiotic resistance: characters of a particular host, host-plasmid relationship and properties which may lead to survival and adaptation in a given niche. | 1986 | 3547625 |
| 4152 | 17 | 0.9998 | Quinolone resistance: much more than predicted. Since quinolones are synthetic antibiotics, it was predicted that mutations in target genes would be the only mechanism through which resistance could be acquired, because there will not be quinolone-resistance genes in nature. Contrary to this prediction, a variety of elements ranging from efflux pumps, target-protecting proteins, and even quinolone-modifying enzymes have been shown to contribute to quinolone resistance. The finding of some of these elements in plasmids indicates that quinolone resistance can be transferable. As a result, there has been a developing interest on the reservoirs for quinolone-resistance genes and on the potential risks associated with the use of these antibiotics in non-clinical environments. As a matter of fact, plasmid-encoded, quinolone-resistance qnr genes originated in the chromosome of aquatic bacteria. Thus the use of quinolones in fish-farming might constitute a risk for the emergence of resistance. Failure to predict the development of quinolone resistance reinforces the need of taking into consideration the wide plasticity of biological systems for future predictions. This plasticity allows pathogens to deal with toxic compounds, including those with a synthetic origin as quinolones. | 2011 | 21687414 |
| 4471 | 18 | 0.9998 | Update on acquired tetracycline resistance genes. This mini-review summarizes the changes in the field of bacterial acquired tetracycline resistance (tet) and oxytetracycline (otr) genes identified since the last major review in 2001. Thirty-eight acquired tetracycline resistant (Tc(r)) genes are known of which nine are new and include five genes coding for energy-dependent efflux proteins, two genes coding for ribosomal protection proteins, and two genes coding for tetracycline inactivating enzymes. The number of inactivating enzymes has increased from one to three, suggesting that work needs to be done to determine the role these enzymes play in bacterial resistance to tetracycline. In the same time period, 66 new genera have been identified which carry one or more of the previously described 29 Tc(r) genes. Included in the new genera is, for the first time, an obligate intracellular pathogen suggesting that this sheltered group of bacteria is capable of DNA exchange with non-obligate intracellular bacteria. The number of genera carrying ribosomal protection genes increased dramatically with the tet(M) gene now identified in 42 genera as compared with 24 and the tet(W) gene found in 17 new genera as compared to two genera in the last major review. New conjugative transposons, carrying different ribosomal protection tet genes, have been identified and an increase in the number of antibiotic resistance genes linked to tet genes has been found. Whether these new elements may help to spread the tet genes they carry to a wider bacterial host range is discussed. | 2005 | 15837373 |
| 9276 | 19 | 0.9998 | In Vitro Assessment of the Fitness of Resistant M. tuberculosis Bacteria by Competition Assay. Bacteria become resistant by a number of different mechanisms, and these include mutation in chromosomal genes (1), acquisition of plasmids (2), insertion of bacteriophage, transposon or insertion sequence DNA (3-5), or gene mosaicism (6). There is a dogma that bacteria that become resistant pay a significant physiological price and that if antimicrobial prescribing is controlled it will result in the eradication of resistant organisms. There are only very few studies that investigate the physiology of resistance acquisition and these do show that a physiological price is paid for this change (7, 8). Once an organism acquires resistance through mutation, acquisition of resistance genes via plasmids, transposons and bacteriophages the initial physiological defect is compensated by the antibiotic selective pressure, which balances the physiological deficit imposed by the resistant mutation or additional DNA (8, 9). | 2001 | 21374423 |