Transcriptional Analysis of the Staphylococcus aureus Penicillin Binding Protein 2 Gene

Sequencing of the vicinity of the staphylococcal pbp2 gene and transcriptional analysis by primer extension and promoter fusions were used to show that pbp2 is part of an operon that also includes a gene with high homology to prfA of Bacillus subtilis. Two distinct promoters were identified directing transcription of pbp2 either alone or together with prfA. It was recently reported that transposon inactivation of pbp2 causes a reduction in methicillin resistance, but complementation experiments were not fully successful. We now show that introduction of the intact pbp2 gene with its two newly identified promoters into the chromosome of the transposon mutant resulted in the full recovery of high-level methicillin resistance.