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PMID: 4597737 Published · ppublish English Journal Article

Curing of an R factor Escherichia coli by trimethoprim.

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy ·Vol. 3 ·No. 6 ·1973-06-00 ·Pages 670-6

Pinney RJ, Smith JT

Abstract

R factor 1818, which we have shown previously to be eliminated by thymine starvation, was cured from three strains of Escherichia coli K-12 by overnight exposure to trimethoprim. Elimination was abolished in the presence of added thymine or thymidine, which suggests that curing is the result of the induction of thymineless conditions by trimethoprim. Starvation of the required amino acids proline and histidine had little effect on elimination, whereas methionine deprivation enhanced it. R factor curing was abolished by the presence of chloramphenicol, and it is concluded that protein synthesis is required for elimination to occur. It is suggested that elimination may result from the activity of a nuclease which is synthesized or induced during both direct thymine starvation and by trimethoprim treatment.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acids/metabolism Chloramphenicol/pharmacology Drug Resistance, Microbial Escherichia coli/drug effects Extrachromosomal Inheritance/drug effects Thymine/metabolism Trimethoprim/pharmacology
Chemicals
Amino Acids Chloramphenicol Trimethoprim Thymine
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Pinney R J
Smith J T
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38 references, click to expand
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Article Info
Journal
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy
Abbr.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother
ISSN
0066-4804
DOI
10.1128/AAC.3.6.670
Published
1973-06-00
Pages
670-6
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0315061
PMCID
PMC444478
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/AAC.3.6.670 PMC Full Text View journal details
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