THE ORIGIN OF THE ANTISEPTIC-RESISTANCE GENE EBR IN STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS

The antiseptic-resistance gene ebr was detected not only in resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus but also in sensitive strains of S. a ureus, in coagulase-negative staphylococcal strains and in enterococca l strains by means of the polymerase chain reaction. The nucleotide se quence of the amplified DNA fragment of the ebr gene from a sensitive strain and that of the previously reported ebr gene were identical. It seems likely that antiseptic-resistant cells result from an increase in the copy number of a gene whose normal function is to remove toxic substances from normal sensitive cells of staphylococci and enterococc i.