Constitutive penicillinase formation in Staphylococcus aureus owing to a mutation unlinked to the penicillinase plasmid.
Previously described penicillinase-constitutive mutations in Staphylococcus aureus are caused by genetic lesions in a regulator gene (or genes) on the penicillinase plasmid in close linkage to the structural gene. This report describes a new class (R2(-)) of penicillinase-constitutive mutants of S. aureus unlinked to the plasmid. By transductional analysis, the penicillinase plasmids in these mutants were wild type. Wild-type plasmids transduced into penicillinase-negative (plasmid loss) derivatives of R2(-) mutants produced penicillinase constitutively in amounts comparable to a fully induced culture of the wild-type strain. Penicillinase production in R2(-) mutants was maximal at 30 to 32 C and was much reduced at 40 C.
D004790:Enzyme Induction; D005111:Extrachromosomal Inheritance; D005827:Genetics, Microbial; D009154:Mutation; D010405:Penicillinase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000378:metabolism; D013696:Temperature; D014161:Transduction, Genetic
D010405:Penicillinase