[Transformation of Bacillus subtilis by crude lysates containing staphylococcal plasmid DNA]

Crude lysates from staphylococcal strains, containing DNA, were capable of transforming Bacillus subtilis at a rate of 1.68 X 10(-10) - 20.6 X 10(-10) depending on the marker according to which the transformers were selected. In a new host, plasmids showed the same behavior pattern as in the staphylococcus but their spontaneous loss was in all the cases recorded significantly more often.