Effect of rifampicin on stability and transfer of R-factors

✍ Scribed by Dr. V. Krčméry; J. Janoušková

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 315 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0233-111X
• DOI: 10.1002/jobm.19710110204

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Rifampicin LEPETIT, an antibiotic known to interfere with the activity of DNA‐dependent bacterial RNA polymerase, prevented the conjugational transfer of R‐factors in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli, and showed appreciable accumulation of R— variants in R^+^ cultures. The drug was active in concentrations from 0.25 to 5.0 μg/ml while there was no influence on the viable count of the R^+^ cultures. Although the concentrations of rifampicin found to be active in R^+^ strains of enterobacteria are about 10 times higher than those found to be active in staphylococci by JOHNSTON and RICHMOND (1970), the sub‐bacteriostatic concentrations of the drug were effective enough to eliminate R‐factors and to prevent their transfer from the donor cells studied.