Effect of polyamines on plasmid-mediated kanamycin resistance and kanamycin phosphotransferase gene expression in Escherichia coli.

The emergence of kanamycin resistance in a polyamine-deficient mutant of E. coli transformed with a plasmid encoding the kanamycin phosphotransferase gene has been studied. The initial inhibition of growth and protein synthesis caused by the addition of the antibiotic could be reversed earlier in polyamine-supplemented bacteria than in those depleted of the organic bases. Concomitantly, we have observed that the increase of kanamycin phosphotransferase activity evoking the antibiotic resistance was higher in bacteria cultivated in the presence of putrescine. This result seems to depend exclusively on the enhanced capacity of the translation process in bacteria grown with polyamines since the transcription of phosphotransferase gene was higher in cells subjected to polyamine starvation.