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Relationship between Pigment Producibility and Drug Resistance in Serratia marcescens
Author(s) -
Muto Yumiko,
Tsuji Akiyoshi,
Kaneko Yasuko,
Goto Sachiko
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1981.tb00118.x
Subject(s) - serratia marcescens , plasmid , microbiology and biotechnology , strain (injury) , biology , escherichia coli , pigment , drug resistance , enterobacteriaceae , bacteria , dna , genetics , chemistry , gene , organic chemistry , anatomy
Among the clinical isolates of Serratia marcescens , non‐pigmented cells appeared more frequently from pigmented, drug‐resistant strains than from pigmented, drug‐sensitive strains. Transfer of R plasmid from Escherichia coli to pigmented strains caused spontaneous loss of pigment producibility, whereas such spontaneous loss never occurred in fresh cultures of drug‐sensitive strains. The non‐pigmented strain was a better recipient of R plasmid from E. coli than was the pigmented strain. R plasmid was transferred from the non‐pigmented strain to the pigmented strain at a higher frequency than from E. coli to the pigmented strain. The results of the present investigation suggest that transfer of R plasmid may be one of the reasons for the significant increase of non‐pigmented, drug‐resistant strains of S. marcescens in nature.