Evidence map›Paper›PMID 16101998›Full record

ArticleMolecular microbiology2005

The penC mutation conferring antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae arises from a mutation in the PilQ secretin that interferes with multimer stability.

Shuqing Zhao, Deborah M Tobiason, Mei Hu, H Steven Seifert, Robert A Nicholas

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular microbiology, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed
2.1field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

42 citing papers in PubMed, 96 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. A novel commensalJournal of clinical microbiology · 2025
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  2. Progression of antibiotic resistance inClinical microbiology reviews · 2025
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  3. Rolling the evolutionary dice:Microbiology spectrum · 2024
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  4. Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile for the USOpen forum infectious diseases · 2023
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Exploration of theAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020
    Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. The MtrCDE Efflux Pump Contributes to Survival ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2018
    Article
  17. Article
  18. WGS to predict antibiotic MICs for Neisseria gonorrhoeae.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2017
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Shuqing ZhaoDepartment of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Deborah M Tobiason
Mei Hu
H Steven Seifert
Robert A Nicholas
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

PENICILLIN RESISTANT NEISSERIA GONORRHOEAE (CMRNG)R01AI036901 · NIAID · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI NICHOLAS, ROBERT A · 1996 to 2010
$3.5M
Gonococcal Pilus Structure and FunctionR01AI055977 · NIAID · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY AT CHICAGO · PI SEIFERT, HANK S. · 2004 to 2008
$1.4M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI036901NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI055977NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI36901
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The penC resistance gene was previously characterized in an FA19 penA mtrR penB gonococcal strain (PR100) as a spontaneous mutation that increased resistance to penicillin and tetracycline. We show here that antibiotic resistance mediated by penC is the result of a Glu-666 to Lys missense mutation in the pilQ gene that interferes with the formation of the SDS-resistant high-molecular-mass PilQ secretin complex, disrupts piliation and decreases transformation frequency by 50-fold. Deletion of pilQ in PR100 confers the same level of antibiotic resistance as the penC mutation, but increased resistance was observed only in strains containing the mtrR and penB resistance determinants. Site-saturation mutagenesis of Glu-666 revealed that only acidic or amidated amino acids at this position preserved PilQ function. Consistent with early studies suggesting the importance of cysteine residues for stability of the PilQ multimer, mutation of either of the two cysteine residues in FA19 PilQ led to a similar phenotype as penC: increased antibiotic resistance, loss of piliation, intermediate levels of transformation competence and absence of SDS-resistant PilQ oligomers. These data show that a functional secretin complex can enhance the entry of antibiotics into the cell and suggest that the PilQ oligomer forms a pore in the outer membrane through which antibiotics diffuse into the periplasm.

Indexed as

Amino Acid SubstitutionDrug Resistance, BacterialFimbriae, BacterialFimbriae ProteinsGlutamic AcidLysineMutation, MissenseNeisseria gonorrhoeaePenicillinsTransformation, BacterialFimbriae ProteinsGlutamic AcidLysinePenicillinspilQ protein, bacteria

Identifiers

PMID16101998
PMCPMC2673695
OpenAlexW1888926496

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.