Infective heredity of multiple drug resistance in bacteria.

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................. 87 DRUG-RESISTANT SHIGELLAE IN JAPAN........................................................ 88 DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLE DRUG RESISTANT SHIGELLAE AND ESCHERICHIA COLI.............. 88 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MULTIPLE DRUG RESISTANT SHIGELLAE AND ESCHERICHIA COLI.............. 89 GENETICS OF MULTIPLE DRUG RESISTANCE..................................................... 89 Transfer of Multiple Drug Resistance by Conjugation........................................... 89 Elimination of Resistance Factors with Acridines............................................... 92 Transduction of Multiple Drug Resistance..................................................... 93 Concept of Resistance Transfer Factor (RTF) and R Factors.................................... 94 Concept of Episomes.......................................................................... 95 Spontaneous Segregation of Resistance Factors................................................. 95 Recombination of R Factors................................................................... 97 Circular Models of R Factors.................................................................. 97 Interactions between RTF and F Factor in Escherichia coli K-12................................ 98 Interactions between RTF Type 1 and Colicinogenic Factors in Escherichia coli K-12............. 100 Evidence for Chromosomal Attachment of RTF................................................. 101 High Frequency Resistance Transfer System (HFRT)........................................... 101 Biological Functions and Mutations of RTF ................................................... 102 Comparison of RTF with Other Episomes...................................................... 104 Origin of Resistance Factors Carried by RTF .................................................. 105 Molecular Basis of R Factors.................................................................. 106 BIOCHEMICAL MECHANISMS OF MULTIPLE DRUG RESISTANCE .................................... 107 SUMMARY...................................................................................... 108 LITERATURE CITED...................................................................... 109