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Penicillinases of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Their Phylogenetic Relationship to Penicillinases Mediated by R Factors

Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, and Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Gunma University, Maebashi, Japan

ABSTRACT

On the assumption that the penicillinase determinants on a group of R factors conferring ampicillin resistance have a phylogenetically close relationship to the penicillinase gene of the Klebsiella group, the penicillinases from four strains of K. pneumoniae, GN69, GN1103R^–, GN422, and GN118, were purified 230- to 1,000-fold and compared with the known two R-factor-mediated penicillinases. By gel filtration on Sephadex G-75, the molecular weights were estimated to be 17,400, 18,100, 20,000 and 18,300, respectively, which are slightly lower than those of the R-factor penicillinases. The isoelectric points of the Klebsiella penicillinases were not in agreement with those of the R-factor penicillinases. All the enzymes showed a pH optimum between 6.3 to 7.2 and a temperature optimum of 45 C, and those properties, together with behavior towards inhibitors, were about the same as those in the R-factor penicillinases. The substrate specificity and the Michaelis constants of the Klebsiella penicillinases for penicillins and cephaloridine were broadly similar to those of the R-factor penicillinases, however, some variations were found even among the four penicillinases of K. pneumoniae. The reactivities of the four penicillinases of K. pneumoniae with the antiserum against one R-factor penicillinase were tested, and three of the four Klebsiella penicillinases were found to be indistinguishable immunologically from both R-factor penicillinases. The remaining Klebsiella penicillinase, from GN1103R^–, showed an immunological partial homology with the R-factor penicillinases.

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