Mutations in the quinolone resistance-determining regions of gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE were studied in 30 fluoroquinolone-resistant clinical isolates of Escherichia coli producing extended-spectrum -lactamases. Ten isolates showed a mutation in parE that was significantly associated with an increase in the MIC for fluoroquinolones.Spain has one of the highest rates of resistance to quinolones among European countries. Queipo-Zaragoza et al. (11) reported a significant increase in resistance to quinolones among clinical isolates of E. coli from 1990 (3%) to 1998 (23%). In 2003, resistance to ciprofloxacin in clinical isolates of E. coli obtained from blood cultures reached 19% in Spain, exceeded only by the reported rate in Portugal (9). However, these data are very likely biased (1).There has also been an increase in the use of fluoroquinolones, especially cephalosporins, to treat enterobacterial infections, which has in turn increased the appearance of extendedspectrum -lactamases (ESBLs) among these infections. The association between ESBL production and fluoroquinolone resistance is well documented (8) and may be due in part to the joint transfer of both mechanisms via plasmids (10). Nevertheless, this explains only a minimal proportion of the coresistance found.The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of mutations in regions that code for quinolone resistance in the chromosomal genes gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE in ESBL-producing clinical isolates of Escherichia coli.Thirty previously characterized (13-15) ESBL-producing clinical isolates of E. coli were characterized for fluoroquinolone resistance using a microdilution assay for ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin (2). Reference strains Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 700603 and E. coli ATCC 25922 served as controls in all MIC determinations. PCR and direct DNA sequencing were used to identify mutations. The oligonucleotide primers 5Ј-ACGTACTAGGCAATGACTGG-3Ј and 5Ј-AGAAGTCGC CGTCGATAGAAC-3Ј were used to amplify nucleotides of gyrA, generating a fragment of 189 bp; 5Ј-TGTATGCGATGTC TGAACTG-3Ј and 5Ј-CTCAATAGCAGCTCGGAATA-3Ј were used for parC (264-bp fragment); and 5Ј-TACCGAG CTGTTCCTTGTGG-3Ј and 5Ј-GGCAATGTGCAGACCAT CAG-3Ј were used for parE (266-bp fragment), following a previously described procedure (4). Finally, the oligonucleotide primers 5Ј-CTCCTCCCAGACCAAAGACA-3Ј and 5Ј-TCACGACCGATACCACAGCC-3Ј were used for gyrB (447-bp fragment), following a previously described procedure (17). Amplified DNA products were resolved by electrophoresis in agarose (1.6%, wt/vol) gels containing ethidium bromide. The PCR product was purified (Wizard PCR Preps DNA purification system; Promega, Madison, WI), processed with a DNA sequencing kit, and analyzed in an automatic DNA se-