ATR-FTIR SPECTROSCOPIC INVESTIGATION OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI TRANSCONJUGANTS BETA-LACTAMS-RESISTANCE PHENOTYPE

Hyphenation of attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and cluster analysis has been used to characterise a susc eptible Escherichia coli K12 strain and the transconjugants TEM-1, TEM -2, TEM-3, SHV-2, SHV-3, SHV-4, A good discrimination of the susceptib le strain from the transconjugants was obtained, Although a limited su ccess was achieved in the differentiation of SHV and TEM phenotypes in general, results obtained with TEM-2 and SHV-3 were convincing. Spect ral differences observed are ascribed to the global effects of the con jugation process, particularly their repercussions in the nucleic acid s and carbohydrate absorbing regions, rather than to beta-lactamase po int-mutations. (C) 1997 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.