Origin? -Lactamase: a Lipoprotein of Gram-Positive β Moraxella (Branhamella)catarrhalis BRO

—theBRO-1 type and the BRO-2 type—are distinguishable by theirisoelectric-focusing patterns (22). BRO-1-producing strainsare more resistant to b-lactam antibiotics than BRO-2 produc-ers, most likely due to higher levels of BRO-1 (1, 9, 22).In an earlier study, we reported the cloning and sequencingof the genes (