Intra- and inter-species mobilisation of non-conjugative plasmids in staphylococci.
The ability of Staphylococcus aureus conjugative plasmids to mobilise non-conjugative resistance plasmids from clinical isolates of S. aureus and S. epidermidis was studied. Plasmids which could not be transferred by transduction or mixed-culture transfer were transferred from phage-typable and non-typable S. aureus and from S. epidermidis. Plasmids encoding single resistance determinants were transferred by mobilisation whereas multiple-resistance plasmids were transferred as co-integrates between the conjugative and non-conjugative plasmids. This study demonstrates that mobilisation is a useful tool for the transfer and study of staphylococcal plasmids and illustrates how antibiotic resistance could be transferred between staphylococci in vivo.
Udo
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School of Biomedical Sciences, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia.
Love
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Grubb
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D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D011815:R Factors; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D013212:Staphylococcus epidermidis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004269:DNA, Bacterial