Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1984 Aug;159(2):590–596. doi: 10.1128/jb.159.2.590-596.1984

Conduction of nonconjugative plasmids by F' lac is not necessarily associated with transposition of the gamma delta sequence.

N Goto, A Shoji, S Horiuchi, R Nakaya
PMCID: PMC215684  PMID: 6086578

Abstract

A nonconjugative kanamycin-resistant (Kmr) recombinant plasmid, pNR5311, transferred at a low frequency from an Hfr or F' lac Escherichia coli donor to an F- lac- recipient. Among the transconjugants, two types of Kmr plasmids were found: one was indistinguishable from pNR5311 (type A), and the other was a recombinant between pNR5311 and the gamma delta sequence (type B). When the F' lac strain was used as a donor, 5% of lactose-fermenting (Lac+) and 75% of lactose-nonfermenting (Lac-) transconjugants had type A plasmids. A kinetic study revealed that type A plasmids were transferred more readily in short mating periods than were type B plasmids. Involvement of Tn903, which is present in pNR5311, in transfer of type A plasmids was unlikely since there was no discernible change in the F' lac molecule coexisting with the type A plasmid in the transconjugant cells. The non-gamma delta-associated conduction of pNR5311 by F' lac did not require the recA+ function of the donor. Conduction of pBR322 by F' lac was also carried out, and two types of plasmids with and without gamma delta were found, as with pNR5311. These findings suggest that the transfer of nonconjugative plasmids is conducted by a novel pathway which is not associated with translocation of transposable elements into either plasmid.

Full text

PDF
592

Images in this article

592Image
on p.592
593Image
on p.593
594Image
on p.594

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Achtman M., Willetts N., Clark A. J. Beginning a genetic analysis of conjugational transfer determined by the F factor in Escherichia coli by isolation and characterization of transfer-deficient mutants. J Bacteriol. 1971 May;106(2):529–538. doi: 10.1128/jb.106.2.529-538.1971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bachmann B. J. Pedigrees of some mutant strains of Escherichia coli K-12. Bacteriol Rev. 1972 Dec;36(4):525–557. doi: 10.1128/br.36.4.525-557.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brooks K., Clark A. J. Behavior of lambda bacteriophage in a recombination deficienct strain of Escherichia coli. J Virol. 1967 Apr;1(2):283–293. doi: 10.1128/jvi.1.2.283-293.1967. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Broome-Smith J. RecA independent, site-specific recombination between ColE1 or ColK and a miniplasmid they complement for mobilization and relaxation: implications for the mechanism of DNA transfer during mobilization. Plasmid. 1980 Jul;4(1):51–63. doi: 10.1016/0147-619x(80)90082-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Calos M. P., Miller J. H. Transposable elements. Cell. 1980 Jul;20(3):579–595. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90305-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chaconas G., Harshey R. M., Bukhari A. I. Association of Mu-containing plasmids with the Escherichia coli chromosome upon prophage induction. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Apr;77(4):1778–1782. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.4.1778. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Clark A. J., Warren G. J. Conjugal transmission of plasmids. Annu Rev Genet. 1979;13:99–125. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.13.120179.000531. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Clewell D. B., Helinski D. R. Supercoiled circular DNA-protein complex in Escherichia coli: purification and induced conversion to an opern circular DNA form. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1969 Apr;62(4):1159–1166. doi: 10.1073/pnas.62.4.1159. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Crisona N. J., Nowak J. A., Nagaishi H., Clark A. J. Transposon-mediated conjugational transmission of nonconjugative plasmids. J Bacteriol. 1980 May;142(2):701–713. doi: 10.1128/jb.142.2.701-713.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Finnegan J., Sherratt D. Plasmid ColE1 conjugal mobility: the nature of bom, a region required in cis for transfer. Mol Gen Genet. 1982;185(2):344–351. doi: 10.1007/BF00330810. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Goto N., Yoshida Y., Terawaki Y., Nakaya R., Suzuki K. Base composition of deoxyribonucleic acid of the temperature-sensitive kanamycin-resistant R factor, Rts1. J Bacteriol. 1970 Mar;101(3):856–859. doi: 10.1128/jb.101.3.856-859.1970. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Grindley N. D., Lauth M. R., Wells R. G., Wityk R. J., Salvo J. J., Reed R. R. Transposon-mediated site-specific recombination: identification of three binding sites for resolvase at the res sites of gamma delta and Tn3. Cell. 1982 Aug;30(1):19–27. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90007-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Guyer M. S. The gamma delta sequence of F is an insertion sequence. J Mol Biol. 1978 Dec 15;126(3):347–365. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(78)90045-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Harshey R. M., Bukhari A. I. A mechanism of DNA transposition. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Feb;78(2):1090–1094. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.2.1090. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Heffron F., Rubens C., Falkow S. Translocation of a plasmid DNA sequence which mediates ampicillin resistance: molecular nature and specificity of insertion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Sep;72(9):3623–3627. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.9.3623. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hooykaas P. J., den Dulk-Ras H., Schilperoort R. A. Molecular mechanism of Ti plasmid mobilization by R plasmids: isolation of Ti plasmids with transposon-insertions in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plasmid. 1980 Jul;4(1):64–75. doi: 10.1016/0147-619x(80)90083-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Hu S., Ohtsubo E., Davidson N. Electron microscopic heteroduplex studies of sequence relations among plasmids of Escherichia coli: structure of F13 and related F-primes. J Bacteriol. 1975 May;122(2):749–763. doi: 10.1128/jb.122.2.749-763.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Humphreys G. O., Willshaw G. A., Anderson E. S. A simple method for the preparation of large quantities of pure plasmid DNA. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1975 Apr 2;383(4):457–463. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(75)90318-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Kado C. I., Liu S. T. Rapid procedure for detection and isolation of large and small plasmids. J Bacteriol. 1981 Mar;145(3):1365–1373. doi: 10.1128/jb.145.3.1365-1373.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Meyer J., Iida S., Arber W. Does the insertion element IS1 transpose preferentially into A+T-rich DNA segments? Mol Gen Genet. 1980;178(2):471–473. doi: 10.1007/BF00270502. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Miller J. H., Calos M. P., Galas D., Hofer M., Büchel D. E., Müller-Hill B. Genetic analysis of transpositions in the lac region of Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1980 Nov 25;144(1):1–18. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(80)90212-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Oka A., Sugisaki H., Takanami M. Nucleotide sequence of the kanamycin resistance transposon Tn903. J Mol Biol. 1981 Apr 5;147(2):217–226. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(81)90438-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Reed R. R. Resolution of cointegrates between transposons gamma delta and Tn3 defines the recombination site. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jun;78(6):3428–3432. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.6.3428. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Reed R. R., Young R. A., Steitz J. A., Grindley N. D., Guyer M. S. Transposition of the Escherichia coli insertion element gamma generates a five-base-pair repeat. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Oct;76(10):4882–4886. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.10.4882. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. SCHILDKRAUT C. L., MARMUR J., DOTY P. Determination of the base composition of deoxyribonucleic acid from its buoyant density in CsCl. J Mol Biol. 1962 Jun;4:430–443. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(62)80100-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Tanaka T., Weisblum B. Construction of a colicin E1-R factor composite plasmid in vitro: means for amplification of deoxyribonucleic acid. J Bacteriol. 1975 Jan;121(1):354–362. doi: 10.1128/jb.121.1.354-362.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Tu C. P., Cohen S. N. Translocation specificity of the Tn3 element: characterization of sites of multiple insertions. Cell. 1980 Jan;19(1):151–160. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90396-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES