Natural penicillin resistance of Francisella tularensis
Pavlovich, N.V.; Tkacheva, T.I.
Antibiotiki i Khimioterapiia 35(8): 25-28
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0235-2990 PMID: 2264748 Document Number: 351929
Altered viable forms of F. tularensis with spheroplast specific damages of the surface structures were isolated after the culture exposure to lithium chloride (0.5 and 1%). Study of natural penicillin resistance in the spheroplasts and bacterial forms of F. tularensis revealed their difference: the spheroplasts of the strains tested had a lower resistance to .beta.-lactam antibiotics than the bacterial forms while the activity of spheroplast .beta.-lactamase did not differ from that of the enzyme of the bacterial form and equalled 224 to 252 U/ml of the cell suspension. Therefore, on the model of the lithium-induced spheroplasts it appeared possible to show that the damages of the surface structures of the cell walls of F. tularensis changed the penicillin resistance level which was indicative of involvement of the F. tularensis cell walls in the phenomenon of the natural resistance to .beta.-lactams.