Prevalence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance.

Quinolone resistance encoded by the qnr gene and mediated by plasmid pMG252 was discovered in a clinical strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae that was isolated in 1994 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center. The gene codes for a protein that protects DNA gyrase from quinolone inhibition and that belongs to the pentapeptide repeat family of proteins. The prevalence of the gene has been investigated by using PCR with qnr-specific primers with a sample of more than 350 gram-negative strains that originated in 18 countries and 24 states in the United States and that included many strains with plasmid-mediated AmpC or extended spectrum beta-lactamase enzymes. qnr was found in isolates from the University of Alabama at Birmingham only during 6 months in 1994, despite the persistence of the gene for FOX-5 beta-lactamase, which is linked to qnr on pMG252. Isolates from other locations were negative for qnr. The prevalence of mcbG in the same sample was also examined. mcbG encodes another member of the pentapeptide repeat family and is involved in immunity to microcin B17, which, like quinolones, targets DNA gyrase. A single clinical isolate contained mcbG on a transmissible R plasmid. This plasmid and one carrying the complete microcin B17 operon slightly decreased sparfloxacin susceptibility but had a much less protective effect than pMG252. Plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance was thus rare in the sample examined.