Mutations in Escherichia coli K-12 decreasing the rate of streptomycin uptake: synergism with R-factor-mediated capacity to inactivate streptomycin.

Escherichia coli K-12 carrying the R-factor R1 or R6K is resistant to streptomycin. The resistance is due to R-factor-coded enzymes that metabolize the drug. Streptomycin can be inactivated in two ways, either by adenylylation or by phosphorylation; both reactions require adenosine 5'-triphosphate. In this work we show that the R-factor R1 codes for an enzyme that adenylylates streptomycin and that the enzyme activity is located in the periplasmic volume, whereas the R-factor R6K codes for a streptomycin phosphorylase, which is mainly cytoplasmic. From a strain without any R-factor or carrying different R-factors, mutants were isolated that are 10 times more resistant to streptomycin than the parent strains. This increased resistance is not due to increased amounts of metabolizing enzymes. The mutants have a decreased rate of uptake of streptomycin and an altered response to other antibacterial agents as well. The mutations are located on the chromosome and not on the plasmid. It is likely that the mutations cause changes in the outer layers of the cell envelope and that the increased resistance is due to the synergistic effect of an efficient penetration barrier and a low activity of inactivating enzyme.