应用膜反向斑点杂交技术快速检测结核分支杆菌耐乙胺丁醇基因型的研究

应用膜反向斑点杂交技术快速检测结核分支杆菌对乙胺丁醇（EMB）耐药性。设计与合成用于检测结核分支杆菌耐EMB基因embB的寡核苷酸探针,点于硝酸纤维素膜上,与结核分支杆菌临床分离株生物素标记的聚合酶链反应（PCR）产物进行反向斑点杂交,并与PCR单链构象多态性（PCRSSCP）和PCR直接测序（PCRDS）结果比较。对81株结核分支杆菌临床分离株进行分析,31株EMB敏感株中,26株embB基因的SSCP图谱、膜反向斑点杂交结果与标准株(H37Rv)完全相同;其余5株SSCP图谱出现泳动变位,其中3株E1b杂交阳性,PCRDS分析为embB基因306位密码子ATG→GTG突变;2株E1d杂交阳性,PCRDS分析为embB基因306位密码子ATG→ATA突变。50株耐EMB菌株中,24株PCRSSCP 图谱与标准菌株相同,E1杂交阳性;26株PCRSSCP图谱出现泳动变位,其中18株E1b杂交阳性,2株E1c杂交阳性,5株E1d杂交阳性,1株E1e杂交阳性,未发现E1f杂交阳性,与PCRSSCP、PCRDS分析结果一致。突变检出率为52%。 膜反向斑点杂交技术可能成为检测部分结核分支杆菌乙胺丁醇耐药基因型简便、快速的方法。     

多耐药临床分离株结核分支杆菌耐药基因rpsL 的克隆表达及功能的初步研究

制备多耐药临床分离株结核分支杆菌基因组DNA,PCR扩增其耐药基因rpsL基因和rrS基因,同时进行测序分析,结果显示该株多耐药临床分离株结核分支杆菌的rpsL基因的93、94bp处的碱基发生了突变,碱基C、C突变为T、T,使得相对应的编码氨基酸由脯氨酸(Pro)突变为亮氨酸(Leu);而rrS基因未发生核苷酸的插入、缺失或取代;进一步构建该株多耐药临床分离株结核分支杆菌耐药基因rpsL高效原核表达重组我体pGEX-λ T／rpsL,所构建的重组质粒pGEX-λ T／rpsL在大肠杆菌中高效表达了38kD的融合蛋白．结果提示,该株多耐药临床分离株结核分支杆菌对链霉素耐药仅仅是由于rpsL基因的个别碱基突变,是单基因型的,在国内外属首次研究发现．     

结核分枝杆菌eis基因突变与氨基糖苷耐药的研究

目的：探讨结核分枝杆菌eis基因突变与氨基糖苷耐药之间的相互关系。方法：以本室保存的35株已确定耐一线药物（异烟肼、利福平、乙胺丁醇、链霉素）的结核分支杆菌为研究对象,应用BECTEC960测定其二线药物（阿米卡星、卡那霉素）的耐药情况,同时应用基因测序的方法测定结核分枝杆菌eis基因突变情况,分析eis基因突变与氨基糖苷耐药之间的相互关系。结果：氨基糖苷耐药的部分结核分杆杆菌中,eis基因487位碱基出现突变,相应的163位氨基酸密码子由CGT突变为CAT,即由缬氨酸变为异亮氨酸。结论：eis基因V163I突变（缬氨酸变为异亮氨酸）可能与结核分枝杆菌耐氨基糖苷类药物有关。     

结核分枝杆菌eis 基因突变与氨基糖苷耐药的研究

目的:探讨结核分枝杆菌eis基因突变与氨基糖苷耐药之间的相互关系。方法:以本室保存的35株已确定耐一线药物(异烟肼、利福平、乙胺丁醇、链霉素)的结核分支杆菌为研究对象,应用BECTEC960测定其二线药物(阿米卡星、卡那霉素)的耐药情况,同时应用基因测序的方法测定结核分枝杆菌eis基因突变情况,分析eis基因突变与氨基糖苷耐药之间的相互关系。结果:氨基糖苷耐药的部分结核分杆杆菌中,eis基因487位碱基出现突变,相应的163位氨基酸密码子由CGT突变为CAT,即由缬氨酸变为异亮氨酸。结论:eis基因V163I突变(缬氨酸变为异亮氨酸)可能与结核分枝杆菌耐氨基糖苷类药物有关。     

链霉素耐药结核分支杆菌rpsL基因分析

结核分支杆菌（Mycobacterium tuberculosis.TB)的rpsL基因突变往往与链霉素（Streptomycin.SM)耐药变异有关。选择了77例TB临床分离株,应用BACTEC460快速培养系统进行常规药敏实验,同时针对rpsL基因进行聚合酶链反应（PCR）,对PCR产物进行单链构型多态性（SSCP）分析,MboⅡ酶切后的限制性片段长度分析（RFLP）和序列测定分析。常规药敏实验显示：有20株为SM敏感,57株为耐药。SSCP显示：34株的rpsL基因为野生型,43株为突变型。与常规药敏相比SSCP的特异性与阳性预期值分别为95％和98％。RFLP显示：81.4%的突变类型使其失去MboⅡ酶切位点。序列测定显示：失去MboⅡ酶切位点的突变为rpsL基因43位密码子存有单碱基突变（AAG→AGG）。实验结果表明,TB对SM耐药变异与rpsL基因突变相关,其中第43位密码子的突变是最常见的原因。     

枯草芽孢杆菌抗脯氨酸结构类似物突变株的筛选及突变株proBA基因的克隆和序列分析

利用亚硝基胍对枯草芽孢杆菌93151进行诱变处理,获得了耐NaCl浓度达14％的突变株,同时发现该突变株也是一个抗脯氨酸反馈抑制突变菌株,其胞内自由脯氨酸的含量随着盐浓度的提高显著增加,说明其对渗透压的耐受能力与胞内自由脯氨酸的含量紧密相关。利用PCR方法克隆突变株的proBA基因,得到一个约2.3kb的DNA片段,序列分析表明该片段含有一完整的proB基因和部分proA基因,与野生菌株的proB基因相比,突变株proB基因中有3个碱基发生了改变,其中一个碱基的变化（从起始密码子开始第781位由T→A）导致了一个氨基酸发生改变（Ser→Thr),另外两个碱基变化为沉默位点突变。将该proB基因转入大肠杆菌脯氨酸营养缺陷型菌株,能够与其功能互补。同时对部分proA基因序列分析发现,其与proB基因头尾重叠。在proA基因起始密码子上游第14个碱基处有一个类似于SD的序列,其所编码的氨基酸序列与枯草芽孢杆菌168的同源性为77％。     

从耐药鲍曼不动杆菌中发现β-内酰胺酶ADC基因和膜孔蛋白carO基因新的变异型

目的 调查一组耐药鲍曼不动杆菌中β-内酰胺酶基因和膜孔蛋白基因的存在和变异情况.方法 收集2010年1月至2010年12月浙江某医院ICU患者痰液标本中分离的多耐药和泛耐药鲍曼不动杆菌各10株,用分子鉴定法鉴定菌种,再用聚合酶链反应(PCR)及序列分析的方法分析34种β-内酰胺酶基因与膜孔蛋白carO基因.结果 本组20株耐药鲍曼不动杆菌共检出TEM-1型20株(100％)、OXA-23型10株(50.0％)、ADC-30型12株(60.0％)、ADC基因新的变异型ADC-60型8株(40.0％)(GenBank登录号:JQ692087).10株PDR菌均检出OXA-23型β-内酰胺酶基因,而10株MDR菌则均未检出OXA-23型β-内酰胺酶基因.20株耐药鲍曼不动杆菌膜孔蛋白carO基因均存在有义突变,19株测得序列相同,翻译成氨基酸序列后与鲍曼不动杆菌敏感株(SDF)比较,一致率为76.0％.8号株carO基因序列与其他19株测得DNA序列不同,第351位缺失了12个碱基并导致过早出现终止密码子.结论 本组鲍曼不动杆菌对β-内酰胺类药物耐药主要与产TEM、ADC、OXA-23和carO基因存在有义突变相关.OXA-23型β-内酰胺酶基因阳性是PDR菌耐碳青霉烯类药物的原因.ADC基因存在新变异型:ADC-60是国内外首次报道.     

临床分离纹带棒状杆菌喹诺酮类耐药株gyrA和parC基因突变的研究

目的 探讨gyrA 、parC基因的改变与纹带棒状杆菌耐喹诺酮类抗生素的关系.方法 采用微量稀释法测试纹带棒状杆菌对环丙沙星、左旋氧氟沙星、万古霉素的敏感性.PCR扩增检测gyrA和parC基因喹诺酮类耐药决定区相关片段并测序,在GenBank中进行Blast及BlastX分析并观察氨基酸突变位点,用NcoI酶进行PCR-RFLP.结果 37株纹带棒状杆菌对环丙沙星和左旋氧氟沙星的耐药率为94.6％,30株菌发生双突变(87位Ser突变为phe,91位Asp突变为Ala),5株菌单点突变(87位Ser突变为phe).PCR-RFLP经NcoI酶切后显示,敏感株和耐药株均产生3个条带.结论 纹带棒状杆菌对环丙沙星、左旋氧氟沙星的耐药率较高,对万古霉素全部敏感.纹带棒状杆菌对喹诺酮类抗生素的耐药机制主要是gyrA突变引起的,尤以双突变占优势.纹带棒状杆菌不携带parC基因,不编码拓扑异构酶Ⅳ.     

钝齿棒杆菌N-乙酰谷氨酸激酶基因的克隆、序列分析及表达

以钝齿棒杆菌(Corynebacterium crenatum)野生株AS 1.542及产精氨酸突变株971.1的基因组为模板,用PCR方法扩增出N-乙酰谷氨酸激酶基因(argB)片段。核酸序列分析结果表明,该片段全长1505bp,包含一个ORF,推测此ORF区编码一条317个氨基酸的多肽,分子量为33.6kDa。C.crenatum野生株AS 1.542与突变株971.1的argB基因序列比较,发现只在结构区有一个核苷酸的差别但没有引起氨基酸变化。野生株AS 1.542argB基因的编码区核苷酸序列与C.glutamicumATCC 13032、Corynebacterium efficiensYS-314和Escherichia colik12的同源性分别是99.89%、76.62%和37.94%,而氨基酸同源性分别是100%、78.55%和25.25%。在C.crenatum argB基因上游存在启动子区域。经IPTG诱导该基因在棒杆菌中得到有效表达,野生株AS 1.542为宿主的重组子酶活明显提高。突变株971.1为宿主的重组菌酶活提高一倍,精氨酸积累提高约25%。     

翘嘴鳜线粒体DNA细胞色素b基因序列分析

测定了翘嘴鳜（Siniperca chuatsi）的线粒体细胞色素b基因编码区全序列1140个核苷酸序列,并且由此推导出对应的氨基酸序列,A/T所占比例为53.4％,G C约占46.6％。该基因中密码子第1位核苷酸中4种碱基组成较为均衡,第2位核苷酸中T的使用率较高,G的使用率较低;而密码子第3位C/A的使用率高,而G的使用率仅为3.7％;在氨基酸序列中Leu所占比例16.36％,远高于其它氨基酸;而Cys使用比例仅为0.79％。本研究为鳜类的系统发育,资源保护和利用提供了核苷酸序列方面的资料,至于翘嘴鳜线粒体细胞色素b基本序列中密码子不同位置碱基使用比率以及氨基酸组成是翘嘴鳜特有还是鳜类共有特征,尚有待进一步研究。     

Nucleotide Polymorphism Associated with Ethambutol Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Ethambutol (EMB) is a first-line drug used for antitubercular therapy in combination with other drugs as recommended by World Health Organization DOTS/DOTS-Plus regimens. EMB is also effective in the treatment of opportunistic mycobacterial infections in patients with human immunodeficiency virus. The emb locus has been considered as a drug target for EMB, and substitutions of codon 306 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis gene embB have been shown to be the most frequent and predictive mutations for EMB resistance. The aim of the present study was to detect embB and embC gene mutations in EMB-resistant clinical isolates. A total of 23 isolates of M. tuberculosis from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were included in the study. Drug sensitivity was tested by proportion method and E-test. All 23 isolates were EMB resistant. Primers to amplify the embB and embC gene were designed, and polymerase chain reaction products were subjected for sequence analysis. H37Rv standard laboratory strain was used as control. Nucleotide sequencing showed that 16 strains had a mutation in the embB gene. The most common mutation observed in the embB gene was at codon 306, followed by mutations at codons 299 and 378 in 4 and 2 isolates, respectively. Novel mutations have been reported at codons 239, 240, 247, 282, 311, 368, 397, 446, 469, and 471. Sequence analysis of the embC gene showed mutation in 8 isolates at codon 270. Novel mutations in embC have been reported at codons 251 and 254. The most common nucleotide polymorphism in our isolates was at codons 306 and 299 in the embB gene and at codon 270 in the embC gene. A mutation at codon 306 was usually associated with high-level ethambutol resistance.     

A Pyrosequencing assay for rapid recognition of SNPs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis embB306 region

Ethambutol (EMB) is in use worldwide as a first-line anti-tuberculosis drug and substitutions in codon 306 of the embB gene are the most common mutations found in EMB resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains. Pyrosequencing is a real time sequencing method able to rapidly detect mutations in a large number of samples. Using this technique we analyzed, in parallel with conventional sequencing, a 24 bp region of the embB gene of 28 MTB clinical isolates. Pyrosequencing efficiently identified all embB306 mutations, detecting three different single-base substitutions leading to 2 amino acid changes (Met to Val or Ile). Mutated embB alleles were detected in 2 multidrug-resistant (MDR) EMB-susceptible strains. Overall, our results demonstrated that the Pyrosequencing method efficiently recognizes mutations in embB in a very short time and represents a valid molecular method to detect mutations in the MTB embB306 region.     

Multicenter evaluation of reverse line blot assay for detection of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates

A multicenter study was conducted with the objective to evaluate a reverse line blot (RLB) assay to detect resistance to rifampin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), streptomycin (STR), and ethambutol (EMB) in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Oligonucleotides specific for wild type and mutant (drug resistance linked) alleles of the selected codons in the genes rpoB, inhA, ahpC, rpsL, rrs, embB, were immobilized on a nylon membrane. The RLB assay conditions were optimized following analysis of DNA samples with known sequences of the targeted genes. For validation of the method at different geographical locations, the membranes were sent to seven laboratories in six countries representing the regions with high burdens of multudrug-resistant tuberculosis. The reproducibility of the assay for detection of rpoB genotypes was initially evaluated on a blinded set of twenty reference DNA samples with known allele types and overall concordant results were obtained. Further mutation analysis was performed by each laboratory on the local strains. Upon RLB analysis of 315 clinical isolates from different countries, 132 (85.2%) of 155 RIF-resistant and 28 (51.0%) of 55 EMB-resistant isolates were correctly identified, showing applicability of the assay when targeting the rpoB hot-spot region and embB306. Mutations in the inhA and ahpC promoter regions, conferring resistance to INH, were successfully identified in respectively 16.9% and 13.2% of INH-resistant strains. Likewise, mutations in rrs513 and rpsL88 that confer resistance to STR were identified in respectively 15.1% and 10.7% of STR-resistant strains. It should be mentioned that mutation analysis of the above targets usually requires rather costly DNA sequencing to which the proposed RLB assay presents rapid and inexpensive alternative. Furthermore, the proposed method requires the same simple equipment as that used for spoligotyping and permits simultaneous analysis of up to 40 samples. This technique is a first attempt to combine different targets in a single assay for prediction of antituberculosis drugs resistance. It is open to further development as it allows easy incorporation of new probes for detection of mutations in other genes associated with resistance to second-line (e.g., fluoroquinolones) and new antituberculosis compounds.     

Detection of mutations associated with multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates

Antimicrobial resistance was studied in 100 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains selected randomly from sputum cultures of newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients. Resistance of the isolates to rifampicin, isoniazid, and ethambutol was tested by both drug susceptibility testing (DST) and allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR). A total of 19 (19%) isolates were found resistant to at least one of the antituberculosis drugs investigated by PCR compared with 14 (14%) resistant isolates detected by DST. Eleven mutations were detected by AS-PCR in the rpoB gene (codons 516, 526, and 531), associated with rifampicin resistance, a marker of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), 14 mutations in the katG gene codon 315 that confers resistance to isoniazid, and nine mutations in the embB gene codon 306 that confers resistance to ethambutol. Mutations in the six multidrug-resistant isolates were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Results were compared with phenotypic DST data. Nineteen different mutation types to at least one of the drugs were found; six isolates (6%) were classified as MDR-TB, defined as resistance to at least rifampicin and isoniazid. The rates of concordance of the PCR with the phenotypic susceptibility test were 71.4, 54.5, and 44.4 for isoniazid, rifampicin, and ethambutol, respectively. These results highlight the importance of molecular epidemiology studies of tuberculosis in understudied regions with a tuberculosis burden to uncover the true prevalence of the MDR-TB.     

Effect of ethambutol on the phospholipids of ethambutol susceptible and resistant strains of Mycobacterium smegmatis ATCC 607

Effect of ethambutol (EMB) on phospholipid composition and metabolism of EMB-susceptible and EMB-resistant strains of M. smegmatis ATCC 607 was studied. Treatment with ethambutol had different effect in both the strains resulting in decreased total phospholipid and cardiolipin content in EMB-susceptible strain and increased content in EMB-resistant strain, with no effect on fatty acyl group composition. These changes were further corroborated by the use of [1-14C]sodium acetate in these studies.     

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis iniA gene is essential for activity of an efflux pump that confers drug tolerance to both isoniazid and ethambutol

Little is known about the intracellular events that occur following the initial inhibition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the first-line antituberculosis drugs isoniazid (INH) and ethambutol (EMB). Understanding these pathways should provide significant insights into the adaptive strategies M. tuberculosis undertakes to survive antibiotics. We have discovered that the M. tuberculosis iniA gene (Rv 0342) participates in the development of tolerance to both INH and EMB. This gene is strongly induced along with iniB and iniC (Rv 0341 and Rv 0343) by treatment of Mycobacterium bovis BCG or M. tuberculosis with INH or EMB. BCG strains overexpressing M. tuberculosis iniA grew and survived longer than control strains upon exposure to inhibitory concentrations of either INH or EMB. An M. tuberculosis strain containing an iniA deletion showed increased susceptibility to INH. Additional studies showed that overexpression of M. tuberculosis iniA in BCG conferred resistance to ethidium bromide, and the deletion of iniA in M. tuberculosis resulted in increased accumulation of intracellular ethidium bromide. The pump inhibitor reserpine reversed both tolerance to INH and resistance to ethidium bromide in BCG. These results suggest that iniA functions through an MDR-pump like mechanism, although IniA does not appear to directly transport INH from the cell. Analysis of two-dimensional crystals of the IniA protein revealed that this predicted transmembrane protein forms multimeric structures containing a central pore, providing further evidence that iniA is a pump component. Our studies elucidate a potentially unique adaptive pathway in mycobacteria. Drugs designed to inhibit the iniA gene product may shorten the time required to treat tuberculosis and may help prevent the clinical emergence of drug resistance.     

In vitro synergistic activity between 8-methoxypsoralen and ethambutol, isoniazid, and rifampin when used in combination against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

8-Methoxypsoralen (8-MOP), a naturally occurring furocoumarin found in many plant species, has been reported to have antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv (ATCC 27294). In the present study, we further test the in vitro synergistic activity of 8-MOP and ethambutol (EMB), isoniazid (INH), or rifampin (RMP) against M. tuberculosis. This study showed that 8-MOP has antimycobacterial activity against two drug-sensitive and six drug-resistant clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis, with the minimum inhibitory concentrations of 100–200 and 200–400 μg/mL, respectively. A synergistic antimycobacterial effect between 8-MOP and EMB, INH, or RMP against six drug-resistant strains was observed, with the fractional inhibitory concentration indices (FICIs) of 0.093–0.156, 0.138–0.285 and 0.093–0.262, respectively. The combination of 8-MOP/EMB, 8-MOP/INH, and 8-MOP/RMP displayed either synergistic activity or had no interaction when tested against the two clinical drug-sensitive strains and the standard strain. No antagonism was observed for any drug combination against any of the strains tested. To our knowledge, this is first report that 8-MOP has synergistic activity with first-line antimycobacterial agents.     

Rapid method for detection of gyrA and grlA mutations in unrelated strains of Staphylococci susceptible and resistant to levofloxacin.

A panel of 150 clinical isolates of methicillin resistant and susceptible Staphylococci were investigated using a rapid and simple PCR-RFLPs technique to detect DNA nucleotide changes at the site of the most frequently reported mutations in grlA (codons 79, 80) and gyrA (codons 83, 84) genes which confer fluorquinolone resistance in Staphylococci. Convergent dual mutations in and gyrA and grlA were found in all strains exhibiting resistance to ciprofloxacin (MIC, 8 to > or =128 mg/l) and levofloxacin (MIC, 8 to > or =64 mg/l). Mutations in grlA and gyrA were also found in strains susceptible to levofloxacin and resistant to ciprofloxacin. In our sample no strains with only grlA mutations were found. Our data indicate that methicillin-resistant fluorquinolone-resistant strains are likely to have mutations in both grlA and gyrA. In contrast, methicillin-susceptible strains do not show any mutation. The genetic relatedness of a sample of representative epidemiologically unrelated MRSA strains, tested by PFGE and rep-PCR, are in agreement with the hypothesis of a clonal selection of these resistant strains.     

One-tube loop-mediated isothermal amplification combined with restriction endonuclease digestion and ELISA for colorimetric detection of resistance to isoniazid, ethambutol and streptomycin in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates

In this study, we designed a simple and rapid colorimetric detection method, a one-tube loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)-PCR-hybridization-restriction endonuclease-ELISA [one-tube LAMP-PCR-HY-RE-ELISA] system, to detect resistance to isoniazid, ethambutol and streptomycin in strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from clinical specimens. The clinical performance of this method for detecting isoniazid-resistant, ethambutol-resistant and streptomycin-resistant isolates of M. tuberculosis showed 98.9%, 94.3% and 93.8%, respectively. This assay is rapid and convenient that can be performed within one working day. One-tube LAMP-PCR-HY-RE-ELISA system was designed based on hot spot point mutations in target drug-resistant genes, using LAMP-PCR, hybridization, digestion with restriction endonuclease and colorimetric method of ELISA. In this study, LAMP assay was used to amplify DNA from drug-resistant M. tuberculosis, and ELISA was used for colorimetrical determination. This assay will be a useful tool for rapid diagnosis of mutant codons in strains of M. tuberculosis for isoniazid at katG 315 and katG 463, ethambutol at embB 306 and embB 497, and streptomycin at rpsL 43.     

Cloning and characterization of a gene affecting the methicillin resistance level and the autolysis rate in Staphylococcus aureus.

Tn918 mutagenesis of a high-level methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin MIC, 800 micrograms/ml) led to the isolation of a low-resistance mutant. The Tn918 insert was transferred back to the parent to produce strain SRM563 (methicillin MIC, 12.5 micrograms/ml), which showed heterogeneous resistance. Twenty-two clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus were transformed with DNA of SRM563. In the transformants of most strains, instances of reduced resistance were observed with concomitant increases of autolysis rate induced by Triton X-100 and were generally more profound in high-resistance strains. Two transformants exhibited a decrease of the autolysis rate and little reduction of resistance. In the transformant of methicillin-susceptible strain RN2677, an increase of the autolysis rate and little reduction of resistance were observed. The production of low-affinity penicillin-binding protein (PBP2') did not significantly decrease in the mutants. Insertion of Tn918 occurred within the 3'-terminal region of a novel gene designated llm, which was cloned and sequenced. RNA blot analysis demonstrated that the gene was transcribed. The encoded protein was composed of 351 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 38,512 and was hydrophobic, suggesting its location on the membrane. The gene was detected by PCR in all S. aureus strains tested but not in the other 26 staphylococcal species. Comparison of the 3'-terminal sequences of the gene among several S. aureus strains showed that, whereas nucleotide substitutions occurred at the third position in seven of eight 3'-terminal codons, only C-terminal amino acid variation of glutamate or aspartate was observed.