Discovery and characterization of genes conferring natural resistance to the antituberculosis antibiotic capreomycin

Abstract

Metagenomic-based studies have predicted an extraordinary number of potential antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs). These ARGs are hidden in various environmental bacteria and may become a latent crisis for antibiotic therapy via horizontal gene transfer. In this study, we focus on a resistance gene cph, which encodes a phosphotransferase (Cph) that confers resistance to the antituberculosis drug capreomycin (CMN). Sequence Similarity Network (SSN) analysis classified 353 Cph homologues into five major clusters, where the proteins in cluster I were found in a broad range of actinobacteria. We examine the function and antibiotics targeted by three putative resistance proteins in cluster I via biochemical and protein structural analysis. Our findings reveal that these three proteins in cluster I confer resistance to CMN, highlighting an important aspect of CMN resistance within this gene family. This study contributes towards understanding the sequence-structure-function relationships of the phosphorylation resistance genes that confer resistance to CMN.