OXA-17, a Further Extended-Spectrum Variant of OXA-10 β-Lactamase, Isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates 871 and 873 were isolated at Hacettepe University Hospital in Ankara and were highly resistant to ceftazidime (MIC, 128 μg/ml). Each produced three β-lactamases, with pIs of 5.3, 6.1, and 7.9. The β-lactamase with a pI of 5.3 was previously shown to be PER-1 enzyme. The antibiograms of the isolates were not entirely explained by production of PER-1 enzyme, insofar as ceftazidime resistance was incompletely reversed by clavulanate. The enzymes with pIs of 6.1 and 7.9 were therefore investigated. The enzyme with a pI of 6.1 proved to be a novel mutant of OXA-10, which we designated OXA-17, and had asparagine changed to serine at position 73 of the protein. When cloned into Escherichia coli XL1-blue, OXA-17 enzyme conferred greater resistance to cefotaxime, latamoxef, and cefepime than did OXA-10, but it had only a marginal (two- to fourfold) effect on the MIC of ceftazidime. This behavior contrasted with that of previous OXA-10 mutants, specifically OXA-11, -14, and -16, which predominately compromise ceftazidime. Extracted OXA-17 enzyme had relatively greater activity than OXA-10 against oxacillin, cloxacillin, and cefotaxime but, in terms of kcat/Km, it had lower catalytic efficiency against most β-lactams. The enzyme with a pI of 7.9 was shown by gene sequencing to be OXA-2.