Antiseptic and antibiotic resistance plasmid in Staphylococcus aureus that possesses ability to confer chlorhexidine and acrinol resistance.

Plasmid pSAJ1 from a methicillin- and gentamicin-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus had am molecular size of 50 kilobases and conferred resistance not only to kanamycin, gentamicin, tobramycin, amikacin, benzalkonium chloride, acriflavin, and ethidium bromide but also to chlorhexidine. In addition, the cloned antiseptic resistance gene(s) manifested acrinol resistance in Escherichia coli. Images