Isolation of a plasmid from "canine" Staphylococcus epidermidis mediating constitutive resistance to macrolides and lincosamides.

A small plasmid of 2.5 kB mediating constitutive resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-(ML)antibiotics could be detected in a "canine" Staphylococcus epidermidis-culture. This plasmid, designated as pSES 1, was identified by interspecies protoplast transformation into Staphylococcus aureus RN 4220. A detailed restriction map of pSES 1 could be constructed using the restriction endonucleases Acc I, Bcl I, Cfo I, Cla I, Hind III, Hinf I, Mbo I, Sst I and Taq I. This map allowed structural comparisons of pSES 1 with plasmids from "human" Staphylococcus- and Bacillus-species, also mediating macrolide-lincosamide resistance (MLR). On the basis of its restriction map, pSES 1 proved to be similar to the plasmids pNE 131 from "human" S. epidermidis, pE 194 from "human" S. aureus and pIM 13 from B. subtilis.