Mechanisms involved in the development of resistance to fluoroquinolones in Escherichia coli isolates

Eighteen quinolone-resistant isolates of Escherichia coli were selected by exposing ten clinical isolates to increasing concentrations of norfloxacin and lomefloxacin. The mutant isolates showed a multiple-antibiotic-resistan ce phenotype. All of them contained single mutations in gyrA consisting of the substitution of Ser-83-->Leu (n = 14), Val (n = 1) or Ala (n = 1) and t he substitution of Asp-87-->Asn (n = 2). Only one concomitant mutation in p arC(Ser-80-->Arg) was detected. Four parent isolates exhibited a single mut ation in gyrA which required less than or equal to 1 mg/L of norfloxacin to be inhibited. Fluoroquinolone resistance, in the 18 quinolone-resistant mu tants, was a result of mutations affecting DNA gyrase plus decreased fluoro quinolone uptake. This latter mechanism of resistance was a combined effect of an absence of OmpF and an increase in active efflux in eight isolates, or an increased active efflux alone in the remaining ten selected mutants.