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JAC Advance Access originally published online on July 1, 2004
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Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2004 54(2):370-375; doi:10.1093/jac/dkh351
JAC vol.54 no.2 © The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2004; all rights reserved.

Identification of genes involved in the susceptibility of Serratia marcescens to polyquaternium-1

Caroline E. Codling1, Brian V. Jones2, Eshwar Mahenthiralingam2,*, A. Denver Russell1 and Jean-Yves Maillard3

1 Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3XF; 2 Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3TL; 3 School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Science, Brighton University, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK

* Corresponding author. Tel: +44-29-2087-5875; Fax: +44-20-2087-4305; Email: mahenthiralingame{at}cardiff.ac.uk

Objectives: Polyquaternium-1 (PQ-1) is a biocide used commercially in a contact lens disinfecting solution, ‘Opti-Free Express (Alcon) Multi-Purpose Disinfecting Solution’. The genetic basis for resistance of Serratia marcescens to PQ-1 was investigated using a random transposon-based mutagenesis approach.

Methods: S. marcescens was subjected to random transposon mutagenesis using a mini-Tn5 Km2 transposon. Mutants with increased susceptibility to PQ-1 were selected and the disrupted genes were identified. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles were also determined for all of the mutants.

Results: A wide range of genes were found to be disrupted in the mutants. The most common were genes associated with the cell membranes, or involved in biosynthesis and metabolism.

Conclusions: This study shows that random transposon mutagenesis is an effective tool for the elucidation of mechanisms of action and resistance to biocides. The results support our previous findings that PQ-1 is active against the cytoplasmic membrane of S. marcescens.

Keywords: S. marcescens , biocides , antibiotics , transposon mutagenesis , gene identification , genetics


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