Summary
We describe a 4.5 kilobase transposon. Tn4001, which mediates resistance to gentamicin, tobramycin and kanamycin in Staphylococcus aureus. Originally detected in plasmid pSK1, Tn4001 was shown to undergo rec-independent transposition to the chromosome from this plasmid and from an inserted derivative of the plasmid pII147. Heteroduplexes between plasmids with and without Tn4001 demonstrated a characteristic stem and loop structure with inverted repeats of approx. 1.3 kilobases.
References
Cohen ML, Wong ES, Falkow S (1982) Common R-plasmids in Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis during a noscocomial Staphylococcus aureus outbreak. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 21:210–215
Cohen S, Sweeney HM (1968) Constitutive penicillinase formation in Staphylococcus aureus owing to a mutation unlinked to the penicillinase plasmid. J Bacteriol 95:1368–1374
Davis RE, Simon M, Davidson N (1971) Electron microscope heteroduplex methods for mapping regions of base sequence homology in nucleic acids. In: Grossman L, Moldave K (eds) Methods in enzymology, vol 21D. Academic Press, New York, p 413
Gray GS, Huang RT-S, Davies J (1983) Aminocyclitol resistance in Staphylococcus aureus: presence of plasmids and aminocyclitol-modifying enzymes. Plasmid 9:147–158
Horinouchi S, Weisblum B (1982) Nucleotide sequence and functional map of pC194, a plasmid that specifies inducible chloramphenicol resistance. J Bacteriol 150:815–825
Iordanescu S, Surdeanu M (1976) Two restriction and modification systems in Staphylococcus aureus NCTC 8325. J Gen Microbiol 96:277–281
Jaffe HW, Sweeney HM, Weinstein RA, Kabins SA, Nathan C, Cohen S (1982) Structural and phenotypic varieties of gentamicin resistance plasmids in hospital strains of Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 21:773–779
Lyon BR, May JW, Skurray RA (1983) Analysis of plasmids in nosocomial strains of multiple-antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 23:817–826
Lyon BR, Iuorio JL, May JW, Skurray RA (1984) Molecular epidemiology of multiresistant Staphylococcus aureus in Australian hospitals. J Med Microbiol. vol 17, in press
McDonnell RW, Sweeney HM, Cohen S (1983) Conjugational transfer of gentamicin resistance plasmids intra- and interspecifically in Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 23:151–160
Novick RP, Edelman I, Schwesinger MD, Gruss AD, Swanson EC, Pattee PA (1979a) Genetic translocation in Staphylococcus aureus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76:400–404
Novick RP, Edelman I, Della Latta P, Swanson EC, Pattee PA (1979b) Translocatable elements in Staphylococcus aureus. Contr Microbiol Immunol 6:41–55
Shalita Z, Murphy E, Novick RP (1980) Penicillinase plasmids of Staphylococcus aureus: structural and evolutionary relationships. Plasmid 3:291–311
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by W. Arber
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lyon, B.R., May, J.W. & Skurray, R.A. Tn4001: A gentamicin and kanamycin resistance transposon in Staphylococcus aureus . Molec. Gen. Genet. 193, 554–556 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382099
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382099