Properties of an R plasmid in Pseudomonas aeruginosa producing amikacin (BB-K8), butirosin, kanamycin, tobramycin, and sisomicin resistance

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain GN315, producing kanamycin acetyltransferase, can transmit a plasmid determining resistance to kanamycin, amikacin (BB-K8), butirosin, tobramycin, and sisomicin, but not gentamicin, to other pseudomonas strains. This plasmid, pMG5, belongs to the same incompatibility group as plasmids determining gentamicin resistance in P. aeruginosa via gentamicin acetyltransferase I. Like other members of this group, it also confers resistance to Hg(2+), organomercurials, and certain deoxyribonucleic acid phages. When pMG5 is introduced into a cell carrying a related R factor, some transconjugants can subsequently cotransfer new combinations of resistance determinants as though recombinant plasmids had been formed.