Open Access AID Detection of 16S rRNA Methylase Genes in Gram-Negative Bacilli Isolated from Hospitals in Changchun, China

Copyright © 2013 Fan Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Methylation of 16S rRNA is an important mechanism of aminoglycoside resistance among gram-negative pathogens. In this report, 16S rRNA methylase genes were amplified using PCR among gram-negative bacillus isolates from hospitals in the Changchun area of China and 16S rRNA methylase genotypes (armA, rmtB, rmtA, rmtC, rmtD, and npmA) were identified by direct sequencing. Fifty of the isolates (43.1%) harbored 16S rRNA methylase genes. The common 16S rRNA methylase genes were armA and rmtB (12.1 % and 31.0%, respectively), whereas the rmtA, rmtC, rmtD, and npmA genes were absent from the sample. It suggests that the predominant 16S rRNA methylase genes among gram-negative bacilli in the Changchun area are armA and rmtB