The most common mechanism of drug resistance in staphylococci is through production of beta lactamase or penicillinase, which inactivates penicillin by splitting the beta lactum ring. These are inducible enzymes which are plamid mediated. They can be transmitted by transduction or conjugation. Ref: Textbook of Microbiology; Ananthanarayanan and Panicker; 10th Edition; Page No: 202