D-Ala-D-Ala ligases from glycopeptide antibiotic-producing organisms are highly homologous to the enterococcal vancomycin-resistance ligases VanA and VanB

摘要

The crisis in antibiotic resistance has re- sulted in an increasing fear of the emergence of untreatable organisms. Resistance to the glycopeptide antibiotic vanco- mycin in the enterococci, and the spread of these pathogens throughout the environment, has shown that this scenario is a matter of fact rather than fiction. The basis for vancomycin resistance is the manufacture of the depsipeptide D-Ala-D- lactate, which is incorporated into the peptidoglycan cell wall in place of the vancomycin target D-Ala-D-Ala.