Mechanism of Aminoglycoside Antibiotic Resistance in Anaerobic Bacteria: Clostridium perfringens and Bacteroides fragilis

Cell-free amino acid incorporation using ribosomes from strains of either Clostridium perfringens or Bacteroides fragilis was shown to be susceptible to inhibition by streptomycin and gentamicin. Ribosomes bound dihydrostreptomycin as effectively as ribosomes from Escherichia coli. No inactivation of streptomycin or gentamicin was detected by cell extracts of either anaerobic bacterial species. B. fragilis, grown without added hemin, menadione, and fumarate, and C. perfringens did not show any time-dependent accumulation of dihydrostreptomycin or gentamicin at concentrations tested. Decreased resistance to aminoglycosides and time-dependent uptake of dihydrostreptomycin at 500 μg/ml was observed with B. fragilis grown with hemin, menadione, and fumarate. With the last additions, cytochrome b was detected by cytochrome spectra of B. fragilis. These results demonstrate that anaerobic bacteria unable to carry out oxygen- or nitrate-dependent electron transport are resistant to streptomycin and gentamicin because of failure to transport aminoglycosides. The induction of fumarate-dependent electron transport in B. fragilis is associated with some aminoglycoside transport that is of poor efficiency relative to bacteria with electron transport to oxygen or nitrate.