Molecular Mechanism of Chloramphenicol and Thiamphenicol Resistance Mediated by a Novel Oxidase, CmO, in <i>Sphingomonadaceae</i>
Xiaodan Ma, Liying Zhang, Yijun Ren, Hui Yun, Hanlin Cui, Qian Li, Yuanqiang Guo, Shu-Hong Gao, Feng‐Liang Zhang, Aijie Wang, Bin Liang
Abstract
Rising levels of antibiotic resistance are undermining ecological and human health as a result of the indiscriminate usage of antibiotics. Various resistance mechanisms have been characterized-for example, genes encoding proteins that degrade antibiotics-and yet, this requires further exploration. In this study, we report a novel gene encoding an oxidase involved in the inactivation of typical amphenicol antibiotics (chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol), and the molecular mechanism is elucidated. The findings provide novel data with which to understand the capabilities of bacteria to tackle antibiotic stress, as well as the complex function of enzymes in the contexts of antibiotic resistance development and antibiotic removal. The reported gene can be further employed as an indicator to monitor amphenicol's fate in the environment, thus benefiting risk assessment in this era of antibiotic resistance.