Role of gyrA mutation and loss of OprF in the multiple antibiotic resistance phenotype of Pseudomonas aeruginosa G49

A clinical isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa G48, became resistant during fluoroquinolone treatment giving rise to the post-therapy isolate, G49. To determine whether mutation in gyrA gave rise to fluoroquinolone resistance, G49 was transformed with a plasmid encoding gyrA (pNJR3-2); this reduced the MIC of fluoroquinolones for G49 two-fold. DNA sequencing of gyrA of G49 demonstrated a mutation at Thr-83, substituting with isoleucine. The outer membrane of G49 was shown to lack OprF, suggesting that loss of this protein may be involved in the multiple antibiotic resistance phenotype; however, when G49 was transformed with a plasmid encoding oprF (pRW5), expression of oprF was shown to have no effect upon the phenotype.