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. 1966 Aug;92(2):358–365. doi: 10.1128/jb.92.2.358-365.1966

Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance Determined by Resistance-Transfer Factors1

Joel Unowsky a,2, Martin Rachmeler a
PMCID: PMC276249  PMID: 16562121

Abstract

Unowsky, Joel (Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Ill.), and Martin Rachmeler. Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance determined by resistance-transfer factors. J. Bacteriol. 92:358–365. 1966.—This study was concerned with the mechanism of expression of drug resistance carried by resistance-transfer (R) factors of two types: fi (negative fertility inhibition) and fi+ (positive fertility inhibition). The levels of drug resistance determined by R factors used in this study were similar to those reported by other investigators. A new finding was that Escherichia coli carrying the fi episome was resistant to 150 to 200 μg/ml of streptomycin. The growth kinetics of R factor-containing cells were similar in the presence or absence of streptomycin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline, but a period of adaptation was necessary before cells began exponential growth in the presence of tetracycline. By use of radioactive antibiotics, it was shown that cells containing the fi episome were impermeable to tetracycline and streptomycin, whereas cells containing the fi+ episome were impermeable only to chloramphenicol. Cell-free extracts from fi+ and fi cells were sensitive to the antibiotics tested in the polyuridylic acid-stimulated incorporation of phenylalanine into protein.

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Selected References

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