Comparison of the penicillin-binding proteins of different strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

This study was undertaken to determine if the categorization of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains into disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI) and non-DGI types was also paralleled by some common characteristic in their penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs). Fluorography of sodium dodecyl sulfate-containing polyacrylamide gels, on which the [14C]penicillin-labeled PBPs had been separated, was used to visualize the PBPs. No common characteristic PBP for genital or DGI strains was observed. Apart from PBPs 1 and 4, which were observed in all cases, there was an apparently random distribution of other PBPs in both types of N. gonorrhoeae. It was concluded from these data that the penicillin susceptibility associated with most DGI strains of N. gonorrhoeae cannot be correlated with any specific changes in their PBP patterns.