Sp. Cohen et al., A MULTIDRUG-RESISTANCE REGULATORY CHROMOSOMAL LOCUS IS WIDESPREAD AMONG ENTERIC BACTERIA, The Journal of infectious diseases, 168(2), 1993, pp. 484-488
Constitutive expression of the mar operon (marRAB) in Escherichia coli
produces a multiple antibiotic resistance phenotype mediated by the e
xpression of multiple genetic loci in response to regulatory proteins
in the operon. A mar-specific DNA probe was used to search for the ope
ron in bacterial strains representing 53 species and 27 genera. Among
these, 6 other Enterobacteriaceae, Salmonella, Shigella, Klebsiella, C
itrobacter, Hafnia, and Enterobacter species, contained DNA sequences
that hybridized to the probe under high-stringency conditions. By use
of a selection protocol developed to obtain multiple antibiotic resist
ant mutants of E. coli, multiply resistant mutants that showed increas
ed expression of mar-specific RNA were obtained from Enterobacter aggl
omerans and Salmonella species.