Beschreibung:
ABSTRACT Streptomycin, the first drug used for the treatment of tuberculosis, shows limited activity against the highly resistant pathogen Mycobacterium abscessus . We recently identified two aminoglycoside-acetylating genes [ aac(2′) and eis2 ] which, however, do not affect susceptibility to streptomycin. This suggests the existence of a discrete mechanism of streptomycin resistance. M. abscessus BLASTP analysis identified MAB_2385 as a close homologue of the 3″- O -phosphotransferase [APH(3″)] from the opportunistic pathogen Mycobacterium fortuitum as a putative streptomycin resistance determinant. Heterologous expression of MAB_2385 in Mycobacterium smegmatis increased the streptomycin MIC, while the gene deletion mutant M. abscessus ΔMAB_2385 showed increased streptomycin susceptibility. The MICs of other aminoglycosides were not altered in M. abscessus ΔMAB_2385. This demonstrates that MAB_2385 encodes a specific and prime innate streptomycin resistance determinant in M. abscessus . We further explored the feasibility of applying rpsL -based streptomycin counterselection to generate gene deletion mutants in M. abscessus . Spontaneous streptomycin-resistant mutants of M. abscessus ΔMAB_2385 were selected, and we demonstrated that the wild-type rpsL is dominant over the mutated rpsL K43R in merodiploid strains. In a proof of concept study, we exploited this phenotype for construction of a targeted deletion mutant, thereby establishing an rpsL -based counterselection method in M. abscessus .