Vancomycin resistance

[Soeren G. Gatermann]

jburger at csir.co.za (Johan Burger) wrote:

>The neomycin-phosphotransferase (NPT-II) gene confers resistance to a few 
>antibiotics (e.g. neomycin, kanamycin, geneticin).  Is vancomycin included in 
>this list?  If not, what gene is responsible for vancomycin resistance?
>
>Thanks very much
>Johan Burger

Vancomycin resistance is conferred by the vanA, vanB, and vanC genes. 
They add D-Ala-D-Lac to a cell wall precursor that usually ends in 
D-Ala-D-Ala. This keeps vancomycin from inhibiting wall synthesis. There 
have been some nice reviews recently, e.g., Trends in Microbiol 
2:385;1994.
Neomycin is an aminoglycoside (in contrast to vanco, which is a 
glycopeptide) and resistence usually results from modification of the 
antibiotic (as by a phosphotransferase, an adenylyltransferase, or an 
acetyltransferase).
Hope this helps
- Soeren