Skip Navigation



JAC Advance Access published online on March 10, 2006
Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, doi:10.1093/jac/dkl064
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
57/5/849    most recent
dkl064v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Henderson-Begg, S. K.
Right arrow Articles by Hall, L. M. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Henderson-Begg, S. K.
Right arrow Articles by Hall, L. M. C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received January 4, 2006
Revised February 9, 2006
Accepted February 14, 2006

Original article

Effect of subinhibitory concentrations of antibiotics on mutation frequency in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Stephanie K. Henderson-Begg 1, David M. Livermore 2, and Lucinda M. C. Hall 1 *

1 Centre for Infectious Disease, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London, 4 Newark Street, London E1 2AT, UK
2 Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring and Reference Laboratory, Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5HT, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Lucinda M. C. Hall, E-mail: l.m.c.hall{at}qmul.ac.uk


  Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the effect of subinhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, trimethoprim, ampicillin and erythromycin on mutation frequency in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Methods: Frequency of mutation to rifampicin resistance was determined in three clinical isolates grown with or without antibiotic treatment. dinB was analysed using PCR and DNA sequence determination.

Results: Subinhibitory levels of ciprofloxacin and streptomycin increased the frequency of mutation to rifampicin resistance between 2- and 5-fold for all three isolates, which is comparable to the increase seen in mismatch repair mutants of this species. These increases appeared not to be dependent on the function of the error-prone DNA polymerase encoded by dinB, since one of the isolates was a naturally occurring deletion mutant for this gene. Trimethoprim increased the mutation frequency for two isolates, but not the dinB mutant; ampicillin and erythromycin had no significant effect on mutation frequencies for any isolate.

Conclusions: Exposure to quinolones and aminoglycosides at subinhibitory concentrations may result in increased mutability in pneumococci, as well as selecting for resistance per se.

Keywords: fluoroquinolones; aminoglycosides; antimicrobials.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Clin. Microbiol.Home page
D. J. Waine, D. Honeybourne, E. G. Smith, J. L. Whitehouse, and C. G. Dowson
Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Multilocus Sequence Typing of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Cystic Fibrosis Sputum Samples
J. Clin. Microbiol., November 1, 2009; 47(11): 3444 - 3448.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Antimicrob ChemotherHome page
P. R. Cortes, G. E. Pinas, A. G. Albarracin Orio, and J. R. Echenique
Subinhibitory concentrations of penicillin increase the mutation rate to optochin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae
J. Antimicrob. Chemother., November 1, 2008; 62(5): 973 - 977.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Clin. Microbiol.Home page
P. R. Cortes, A. G. A. Orio, M. Regueira, G. E. Pinas, and J. Echenique
Characterization of In Vitro-Generated and Clinical Optochin-Resistant Strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolated from Argentina
J. Clin. Microbiol., June 1, 2008; 46(6): 1930 - 1934.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 MicrobiologyHome page
L. M. C. Hall and S. K. Henderson-Begg
Hypermutable bacteria isolated from humans - a critical analysis.
Microbiology, September 1, 2006; 152(Pt 9): 2505 - 2514.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.