Identification of Functional Regulatory Residues of the β -Lactam Inducible Penicillin Binding Protein in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Resistance to methicillin by Staphylococcus aureus is a persistent clinical problem worldwide. A mechanism for resistance has been proposed in which methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates acquired a new protein called β -lactam inducible penicillin binding protein (PBP-2'). The PBP-2' functions by substituting other penicillin binding proteins which have been inhibited by β -lactam antibiotics. Presently, there is no structural and regulatory information on PBP-2' protein. We conducted a complete structural and functional regulatory analysis of PBP-2' protein. Our analysis revealed that the PBP-2' is very stable with more hydrophilic amino acids expressing antigenic sites. PBP-2' has three striking regulatory points constituted by first penicillin binding site at Ser25, second penicillin binding site at Ser405, and finally a single metallic ligand binding site at Glu657 which binds to Zn(2+) ions. This report highlights structural features of PBP-2' that can serve as targets for developing new chemotherapeutic agents and conducting site direct mutagenesis experiments.