The mystery of the fourth clone: comparative genomic analysis of four non-typeable Streptococcus pneumoniae strains with different susceptibilities to optochin

Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2016 Jan;35(1):119-30. doi: 10.1007/s10096-015-2516-5. Epub 2015 Nov 12.

Abstract

Optochin-resistant pneumococci can be rarely caught in clinical microbiology laboratories because of the routine identification of all such strains as viridans group non-pneumococci. We were lucky to find four non-typeable Streptococcus pneumoniae clones demonstrating the different susceptibilities to optochin: one of them (Spn_13856) was resistant to optochin, while the other three (Spn_1719, Spn_27, and Spn_2298) were susceptible. Whole genome nucleotide sequences of these strains were compared to reveal the differences between the optochin-resistant and optochin-susceptible strains. Two adjacent genes coding maltose O-acetyltransferase and uridine phosphorylase which were presented in the genomes of all optochin-susceptible strains and missed in the optochin-resistant strain were revealed. Non-synonymous substitutions in 14 protein-coding genes were discovered, including the Ala49Ser mutation in the C-subunit of the F0 part of the ATP synthase rotor usually associated with pneumococcal optochin resistance. Modeling of a process of optochin interaction with the F0 part of the ATP synthase rotor indicates that the complex of optochin with "domain C" composed by wild-type C-subunits is more stable than the same complex composed of Ala49Ser mutant C-subunits.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Infective Agents / pharmacology*
  • Drug Resistance, Bacterial*
  • Genome, Bacterial*
  • Genomics*
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Mitochondrial Proton-Translocating ATPases / chemistry
  • Mitochondrial Proton-Translocating ATPases / metabolism
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Mutation, Missense
  • Pneumococcal Infections / microbiology
  • Protein Binding
  • Quinine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Quinine / pharmacology
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / drug effects*
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / genetics*
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / isolation & purification

Substances

  • Anti-Infective Agents
  • ethylhydrocupreine
  • Quinine
  • F1F0-ATP synthase
  • Mitochondrial Proton-Translocating ATPases