Interactions of biapenem with active-site serine and metallo-β-lactamases

Biapenem, formerly LJC 10,627 or L-627, a carbapenem antibiotic, was studied in its interactions with 12 β-lactamases belonging to the four molecular classes proposed by R. P. Ambler (Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. Biol. Sci. 289:321-331, 1980). Kinetic parameters were determined. Biapenem was readily inactivated by metallo-β-lactamases but behaved as a transient inhibitor of the active-site serine enzymes tested, although with different acylation efficiency values. Class A and class D β-lactamases were unable to confer in vitro resistance toward this carbapenem antibiotic. Surprisingly, the same situation was found in the case of class B enzymes from Aeromonas hydrophila AE036 and Bacillus cereus 5/B/6 when expressed in Escherichia coli strains.