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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 2004, p. 1746-1750, Vol. 42, No. 4
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.4.1746-1750.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Unique Variations of pbp2b Sequences in Penicillin-Nonsusceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates from Korea

Jin Yang Baek,^1, Kwan Soo Ko,^1, Won Sup Oh,² Sook-In Jung,³ Yeon Sook Kim,⁴ Hyun-Ha Chang,⁵ Hyuck Lee,⁶ Shin Woo Kim,⁷ Kyong Ran Peck,² Nam Yong Lee,⁸ and Jae-Hoon Song^1,2*

Asian-Pacific Research Foundation for Infectious Diseases (ARFID),¹ Division of Infectious Diseases,² Department of Laboratory Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 135-710,⁸ Chonnam National University Hospital, Gwangju 501-757,³ Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon 301-721,⁴ Kyunghee University Medical Center, Seoul 130-702,⁵ Dong-A University Hospital, Busan 602-715,⁶ Kyungbook National University, Daegu 700-721, Korea⁷

Received 26 September 2003/ Returned for modification 17 December 2003/ Accepted 5 January 2004

pbp2b gene alterations were analyzed in 102 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae (30 penicillin susceptible, 23 intermediate, and 49 resistant) from Korea. On the basis of PBP2B amino acid sequences, penicillin-nonsusceptible isolates of S. pneumoniae belonged to six groups, and 76% of the isolates in groups I to IV showed the same divergent block of amino acid alterations. Thirteen isolates (group II) also possessed a divergent block that was identical to that of Streptococcus oralis. The pbp2b genes of most Korean isolates showed novel mosaic mutations due to horizontal gene transfer. The Thr252Ala substitution, previously thought to be associated only with penicillin-nonsusceptible strains, was also found in three penicillin-susceptible strains. On the basis of their pbp2b nucleotide sequences, all penicillin-nonsusceptible isolates can be detected by multiplex PCR, which can be used as a novel method for detection of antibiotic-resistant pneumococcal strains in clinical specimens.

J. Y. Baek and K. S. Ko contributed equally as joint first authors.

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