Plasmid R27 compensates for the deregulation of hemolysin production that hha mutants show. Hemolytic activity in culture supernatants of strains 5K, Hha3, Hha3(R27), and Hha3(R27 hha) transformed with hemolytic plasmid pANN202-312. The hemolytic activity of strain Hha3(pANN202-312), referred to as 100%, was 436 U.