Plasmid-mediated beta-lactamase production in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Several beta-lactamase-producing, penicillin-resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae were examined for R plasmids. Penicillin-resistant strains isolated from men returning from the Far East and their contacts contained a 4.4 x 10(6)-dalton plasmid in common. Transformation studies and the isolation of a spontaneous penicillin-susceptible segregant showed that the structural gene for beta-lactamase was part of the 4.4 x 10(6)-dalton plasmid. An additional penicillin-resistant gonococcal strain isolated in London was found to harbor a 3.2 x 10(6)-dalton R plasmid. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-DNA duplex studies revealed that the penicillin-resistant gonococcal isolates contained a significant portion (about 40%) of the transposable DNA sequence, TnA, which includes the beta-lactamase gene commonly found on R plasmids of the Enterobacteriaceae and Haemophilus influenzae.