Townsend D E, Grubb W B, Annear D I
Aust J Exp Biol Med Sci. 1985 Aug;63 ( Pt 4):463-72. doi: 10.1038/icb.1985.51.
Production of diffusible pigment in a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (WG260) has been associated with a plasmid of c.26 megadaltons which can be co-transduced with inducible erythromycin and spectinomycin resistance. However, the diffusible pigment plasmid can be lost from the transductants without loss of inducible erythromycin and spectinomycin resistance. The evidence suggests that the resistance determinants are located on an element similar or identical to transposon Tn554, and, during transduction of the diffusible pigment plasmid, a copy of the resistance determinants always inserts into the chromosome of the transductant. This is the first report of such an element occurring on a plasmid in a clinical isolate of S. aureus. To date, the diffusible pigment plasmid has been isolated only as the open-circular conformation of plasmid DNA and is probably a highly relaxable plasmid. The production of the orange, diffusible pigment was shown to be independent of colony pigmentation.
金黄色葡萄球菌（WG260）菌株中可扩散色素的产生与一个约26兆道尔顿的质粒有关，该质粒可与诱导型红霉素和壮观霉素抗性一起被共转导。然而，可扩散色素质粒可从转导子中丢失，而诱导型红霉素和壮观霉素抗性并不丢失。证据表明，抗性决定簇位于一个与转座子Tn554相似或相同的元件上，并且在可扩散色素质粒的转导过程中，抗性决定簇的一个拷贝总是插入到转导子的染色体中。这是首次报道在金黄色葡萄球菌临床分离株的质粒上出现这样一个元件。迄今为止，可扩散色素质粒仅以质粒DNA的开环构象被分离出来，可能是一种高度松弛的质粒。橙色可扩散色素的产生被证明与菌落色素沉着无关。
