Vancomycin, producing organism

Woithe K, Geib N, Zerbe K, Li DB, Heck M, Fournier-Rousset S, Meyer O, Vitali F, Matoba N, Abou-Hadeed K et al (2007) Oxidative phenol coupling reactions catalyzed by OxyB a cytochrome P450 from the vancomycin producing organism. Implications for vancomycin biosynthesis. J Am Chem Soc 129 6887-6895... 

TABLE 22-1. Producing Organism and Uses of the Vancomycin-Group Antibiotics... 

Clostridium dijficile, described in older texts as of little significance as a pathogen if present in the gut, may, after therapy with antibiotics such as clindamycin or ampicillin, remain uninhibited, grow and produce toxins which give rise to a serious condition known as pseudomembranous colitis. The organism will usually succumb to vancomycin. 

In addition to isolates with high-level aminoglycoside resistance, /3-lacta-mase-producing enterococci (especially Enterococcus faecium) are increasingly reported. If these organisms are discovered, use of vancomycin or ampicillin-sulbactam in combination with gentamicin should be considered. 

Under reversed-phase elution conditions, the nature of organic modiher has a very important role on the separation. Thus, methanol proved to provide better enantioselectivity than acetonitrile for the separation of ergotamine on a vancomycin and teicoplanin stationary phase [129]. The buffer concentration also has an influence on the retention of the enantiomeric analytes. An increase in buffer concentration produces a decrease in the retention of the two enantiomers. It was found that in some cases the two stationary phases, teicoplanin and vancomycin, are complementary for a poor separation on vancomycin, the stationary phase produced a baseline separation on teicoplanin and vice versa [129]. 

Two important new streptogramins are quinu-pristin (Fig. 10.15A) and dalfopristin (Fig. 10.15B), which are derivatives of pristinamycin I and IIA, respectively. Individually, the two components are bacteristatic but in combination they act synergistically to produce a bactericidal effect by inhibiting early (dalfopristin) and late (quinupristin) phases of bacterial protein synthesis. These two antibiotics are used intravenously in combination (ratio 30 70) for the treatment of serious or life-threatening infections associated with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium bacteraemia, although the effect against this organism is bacteristatic. 

Oberg (2002) has listed more than 1500 naturally produced chlorinated compounds and the microorganisms which play an important role in their production. In part, this microbial capacity is utilized to produce compounds that have become established as pharmaceuticals, for example the antibiotic vancomycin (Oberg 2002). In order for these processes to be maintained, it is necessary for there to be a certain Cl2-budget for the soil. In this respect, organic CI2 - but not Cl - contributes the majority of the soil-associated CI2 (Figure 9.2-1), (Oberg 2002.)... 

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