Amplification and nucleotide sequence of the quinolone resistance-determining region in the gyrA gene of mycobacteria.

Chromosomal DNA of different species of mycobacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium smegmatis, has been submitted to polymerase chain reaction using two oligonucleotide primers highly homologous to DNA sequences flanking the quinolone resistance-determining region in the gyrA gene of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. For each of these mycobacterial species, a 150-bp DNA fragment hybridizing with an intragenic probe of the gyrA gene of E. coli K12 was obtained. The nucleotide sequences of the 108-bp fragments amplified from M. tuberculosis and M. avium were determined. The two sequences were 87% homologous. Except for one residue, their deduced amino acid sequences were identical and shared 67% homology with the quinolone resistance-determining region of the gyrase A subunits of E. coli and S. aureus. Sequencing of the 108-bp fragment amplified from an in vitro mutant of M. avium, highly resistant to fluoroquinolones, showed a point mutation leading to the substitution of Ala for Val at a position corresponding to residues involved in quinolone resistance in E. coli and S. aureus, i.e. Ser 83 for E. coli and Ser 84 for S. aureus.