Investigation of the penicillinase activity in L colonies of Staphylococcus aureus

Penicillinase-producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus are transformed into stable L colonies by 70 to 100 subcultures on methicillin-containing medium with a suitable high osmolarity. During transformation, the penicillinase activity is lost. This loss in activity is not the result of only the penicillinase-negative mutants transforming to L colonies. If unstable L colonies are filtered through 0.45-mum membrane filters immediately after transformation, still no penicillinase activity is seen; this is also the case if the filtrated L colonies are reverted into coccal forms. The mechanism responsible for the loss of penicillinase activity is discussed. A loss of the penicillinase plasmid is proposed as the most reasonable explanation.