@article{Li_Yang_Ke_Liu_Wang_Liu_Liu_Chen_2017, title={Hfq mutation confers increased cephalosporin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae}, volume={69}, url={https://www.serbiosoc.org.rs/arch/index.php/abs/article/view/78}, abstractNote={<p><em>Klebsiella pneumoniae</em><em> </em>(<em>K. pneumoniae</em>), is an opportunistic pathogen raising significant public health concerns owing to its multi-drug resistance. Hfq, one of the main RNA-binding proteins, is a key post-transcriptional regulator. This protein is closely related to virulence and resistance in various pathogenic bacteria. Although the role of <em>hfq</em> in <em>K. pneumoniae</em> virulence has been explored, its influence on resistance remains largely unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of <em>hfq</em> in the resistance of <em>K. pneumoniae</em> to cephalosporins. An <em>hfq </em>mutant was constructed, and its resistance to cephalosporins was investigated. The <em>hfq</em> mutant exhibited over 16-fold higher cephalosporin resistance than that exhibited by the wild type. Time-kill curve analysis showed that the <em>hfq</em> mutant could survive under higher concentrations of cephalosporins than the wild-type strain could. Quantitative RT-PCR showed that expression levels for 8 out of the 9 penicillin-binding proteins, which are the targets of cephalosporins, were downregulated in the <em>hfq</em> mutant. Taken together, contrary to its role in many other bacteria, <em>hfq </em>is involved in a negative regulation of <em>K. pneumoniae</em><em> </em>resistance to cephalosporins by downregulating the expression of penicillin-binding proteins.</p><p><strong>DOI:</strong> <a href="http://doiserbia.nb.rs/Article.aspx?id=0354-46641600078L" target="_blank">10.2298/ABS160126078L</a></p><p><strong>Received:</strong> January 26, 2016; <strong>Revised:</strong> March 20, 2016; <strong>Accepted:</strong> April 30, 2016; <strong>Published online:</strong> September 14, 2016</p><p><strong>How to cite this article:</strong> Li X, Yang M, Ke Y, Liu M, Wang Y, Liu S, Liu B, Chen Z. Hfq mutation confers increased cephalosporin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Arch Biol Sci. 2017;69(1):61-9.</p>}, number={1}, journal={Archives of Biological Sciences}, author={Li, Xinran and Yang, Mingjuan and Ke, Yuehua and Liu, Mingyuan and Wang, Yufei and Liu, Shiwei and Liu, Bo and Chen, Zeliang}, year={2017}, month={Mar.}, pages={61–69} }