Structure and putative origin of a plasmid from Staphylococcus hyicus that mediates chloramphenicol and streptomycin...

The structure and functional organization of Staphylococcus hyicus plasmid pSCGp3EB that mediates chloramphenicol and streptomycin resistance (CmrSmr) is described and compared with another CmrSmr plasmid, pSCS12, from Staphylococcus sciuri. Both plasmids appeared to be formed by co-integrate formation between plasmids that very closely resemble the chloramphenicol resistance (Cmr) plasmid pC221 and the streptomycin resistance (Smr) plasmid pS194. In addition to the established recombination site B (RSB) in pC221 and pS194, another area suitable for recombination immediately downstream of the cat gene in pC221 and upstream of the str gene in pS194 has been identified. Co-integration at these sites would lead to the structures we have observed in the wild-type CmrSmr plasmids pSCGp3EB and pSCS12.