Point mutation in the pribnow box, the molecular basis of beta-lactamase overproduction in Klebsiella oxytoca.

Klebsiella oxytoca mutants resistant to a variety of beta-lactams were obtained in vitro on aztreonam. Constitutive beta-lactamase production was much higher in the mutants than in the susceptible strains (75-fold). The only difference observed in these mutants compared with the susceptible strains were point mutations in the Pribnow box: a transversion (G-->T) in the first base for one mutant or a transition (G-->A) in the fifth base of the -10 consensus sequence for the other three mutants. The transcriptional output of the beta-lactamase gene (blaOXY) from the mutants was significantly higher than that of the blaOXY gene from the susceptible strains.