The Influence of Outer Membrane Protein on Ampicillin Resistance of <i>Vibrio parahaemolyticus</i>
Xiangyu Meng, Danyang Huang, Qing Zhou, Fan Ji, Xin Tan, Jianli Wang, Xiaoyuan Wang
Abstract
The antibiotic resistance of the food‐borne pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus has attracted researchers’ attention in recent years, but its molecular mechanism remains poorly understood. In this study, 7 genes encoding outer membrane proteins (OMPs) were individually deleted in V. parahaemolyticus ATCC33846, and the resistance of these 7 mutants to 14 antibiotics was investigated. The results revealed that the resistance of the 7 mutants to ampicillin was significantly increased. Further exploration of 20‐gene transcription changes by real time‐qPCR (RT‐qPCR) demonstrated that the higher ampicillin resistance might be attributed to the expression of β ‐lactamase and reduced peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis activity through reduced transcription of penicillin‐binding proteins (PBPs), increased transcription of l , d ‐transpeptidases, downregulated d , d ‐carboxypeptidase, and alanine deficiency. This study provides a new perspective on ampicillin resistance in OMP mutants with respect to PG synthesis.