STUDIES ON THE NATURE OF PLASMIDS ARISING FROM CONJUGATION IN THE HUMAN GASTRO-INTESTINAL TRACT

Abstract

In the studies described in the preceding paper, circumstantial evidence was found for transfer of antibiotic resistance from an ingested strain of Escherichia coli carrying an R factor, R-1, which determined resistance to ampicillin (A), chloramphenicol (C), kanamycin (K), streptomycin (S) and sulphonamide (Su). Resistant organisms isolated from the faeces of a single individual were examined in detail to prove conclusively that the DNA of the ingested plasmid had transferred to other organisms.