Transmissible resistance to penicillin G, neomycin, and chloramphenicol in Rhizobium japonicum.

The genetic basis for resistance to a number of antibiotics was examined in Rhizobium japonicum. Resistance to penicillin G, neomycin, and chloramphenicol appears to be mediated by an extrachromosomal element similar to that found in the Enterobacteriaceae. Resistance to these antibiotics was eliminated from cells by treatment with acridine orange, and resistance to all three antibiotics could be transferred en bloc to Agrobacterium tumefaciens under conditions excluding transformation or transduction as possible genetic mechanisms.