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Nature of the Elimination of the Penicillinase Plasmid from Staphylococcus aureus by Surface-Active Agents

¹ Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601

ABSTRACT

Growth of Stapylococcus aureus in various ionic surface-active agents resulted in loss of the ability to produce penicillinase, whereas growth in nonionic surface-active agents had no effect on penicillinase production. The curing effect of various alkyl sulfates was found to be dependent upon the chain length. Curing by surface-active agents could be inhibited by magnesium. Reciprocal transduction experiments showed that curing by a surface-active agent was a property of the plasmid, not of the bacterial strain in which the plasmic resides.