Selection for High-Level Telithromycin Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus Yields Mutants Resulting from an rplB -to- rplV Gene Conversion-Like Event

While most Staphylococcus aureus telithromycin-resistant mutants isolated in this study possessed duplications within rplV (encoding ribosomal protein L22), four isolates possessed insertions within rplV that were identical to a portion of the gene rplB (encoding ribosomal protein L2). This novel type of mutation is the result of an apparent gene conversion-like event.