Abstract
The cat and tet genes of chloramphenicol- and tetracycline-resistant clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae from Paris and Japan were shown to be contained in adjacent heterologous insertions into the chromosome. The two insertions transformed laboratory strains at frequencies that were low, unequal, and, for tet, very sensitive to the length of the donor deoxyribonucleic acid strand. In contrast, the transforming activity of cat was relatively stable. There was an unusual asymmetric cotransfer, in that a majority of the tet transformants also acquired cat, whereas only a few of the cat transformants also acquired tet. The evidence for chromosomal insertion came from genetic data showing linkage of cat to a chromosomal gene and from cosedimentation of cat with chromosomal markers in both velocity and dye-buoyancy experiments. Genes on a known plasmid introduced into pneumococcus from Streptococcus faecalis showed very different physical behavior. Most of the transformation properties of these genes can be readily accounted for by analogy to transformation of deletions of normal genes. Whether transposition contributes any of the transfers remains to be determined. The presence of one of the genes in the recipient promoted the integration of the other, demonstrating enhanced accumulation of heterologous genes by a process that did not involve plasmids in the species of concern.
Full text
PDF









Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Adams A. Transformation and transduction of a large deletion mutation in Bacillus subtilis. Mol Gen Genet. 1972;118(4):311–320. doi: 10.1007/BF00333566. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bendler J. W., 3rd Physical size of the donor locus and transmission of Haemophilus influenzae ampicillin resistance genes by deoxyribonucleic acid-mediated transformation. J Bacteriol. 1976 Jan;125(1):197–204. doi: 10.1128/jb.125.1.197-204.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bernheimer H. P., Wermundsen I. E. Homology in capsular transformation reactions in Pneumococcus. Mol Gen Genet. 1972;116(1):68–83. doi: 10.1007/BF00334261. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Canosi U., Morelli G., Trautner T. A. The relationship between molecular structure and transformation efficiency of some S. aureus plasmids isolated from B. subtilis. Mol Gen Genet. 1978 Nov 9;166(3):259–267. doi: 10.1007/BF00267617. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cato A., Jr, Guild W. R. Transformation and DNA size. I. Activity of fragments of defined size and a fit to a random double cross-over model. J Mol Biol. 1968 Oct 14;37(1):157–178. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(68)90080-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Contente S., Dubnau D. Characterization of plasmid transformation in Bacillus subtilis: kinetic properties and the effect of DNA conformation. Mol Gen Genet. 1979 Jan 2;167(3):251–258. doi: 10.1007/BF00267416. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dang-Van A., Tiraby G., Acar J. F., Shaw W. V., Bouanchaud D. H. Chloramphenicol resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae: enzymatic acetylation and possible plasmid linkage. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1978 Apr;13(4):577–583. doi: 10.1128/aac.13.4.577. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Duncan C. H., Wilson G. A., Young F. E. Mechanism of integrating foreign DNA during transformation of Bacillus subtilis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Aug;75(8):3664–3668. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.8.3664. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gryczan T. J., Contente S., Dubnau D. Characterization of Staphylococcus aureus plasmids introduced by transformation into Bacillus subtilis. J Bacteriol. 1978 Apr;134(1):318–329. doi: 10.1128/jb.134.1.318-329.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Guild W. R., Shoemaker N. B. Mismatch correction in pneumococcal transformation: donor length and hex-dependent marker efficiency. J Bacteriol. 1976 Jan;125(1):125–135. doi: 10.1128/jb.125.1.125-135.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Harris-Warrick R. M., Lederberg J. Interspecies transformation in Bacillus: mechanism of heterologous intergenote transformation. J Bacteriol. 1978 Mar;133(3):1246–1253. doi: 10.1128/jb.133.3.1246-1253.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hershfield V. Plasmids mediating multiple drug resistance in group B streptococcus: transferability and molecular properties. Plasmid. 1979 Jan;2(1):137–149. doi: 10.1016/0147-619x(79)90012-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Horodniceanu T., Bouanchaud D. H., Bieth G., Chabbert Y. A. R plasmids in Streptococcus agalactiae (group B). Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1976 Nov;10(5):795–801. doi: 10.1128/aac.10.5.795. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jacobs M. R., Koornhof H. J., Robins-Browne R. M., Stevenson C. M., Vermaak Z. A., Freiman I., Miller G. B., Witcomb M. A., Isaäcson M., Ward J. I. Emergence of multiply resistant pneumococci. N Engl J Med. 1978 Oct 5;299(14):735–740. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197810052991402. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lacks S. Integration efficiency and genetic recombination in pneumococcal transformation. Genetics. 1966 Jan;53(1):207–235. doi: 10.1093/genetics/53.1.207. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Miyamura S., Ochiai H., Nitahara Y., Nakagawa Y., Terao M. Resistance mechanism of chloramphenicol in Streptococcus haemolyticus, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus faecalis. Microbiol Immunol. 1977;21(2):69–76. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1977.tb02809.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrison D. A., Guild W. R. Breakage prior to entry of donor DNA in Pneumococcus transformation. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1973 Apr 11;299(4):545–556. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(73)90226-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrison D. A., Guild W. R. Transformation and deoxyribonucleic acid size: extent of degradation on entry varies with size of donor. J Bacteriol. 1972 Dec;112(3):1157–1168. doi: 10.1128/jb.112.3.1157-1168.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Novick R. P., Clowes R. C., Cohen S. N., Curtiss R., 3rd, Datta N., Falkow S. Uniform nomenclature for bacterial plasmids: a proposal. Bacteriol Rev. 1976 Mar;40(1):168–189. doi: 10.1128/br.40.1.168-189.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Novick R. P., Edelman I., Schwesinger M. D., Gruss A. D., Swanson E. C., Pattee P. A. Genetic translocation in Staphylococcus aureus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Jan;76(1):400–404. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.1.400. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Phillips S., Novick R. P. Tn554--a site-specific repressor-controlled transposon in Staphylococcus aureus. Nature. 1979 Mar 29;278(5703):476–478. doi: 10.1038/278476a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Porter R. D., Guild W. R. Number of transformable units per cell in Diplococcus pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1969 Mar;97(3):1033–1035. doi: 10.1128/jb.97.3.1033-1035.1969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Porter R. D., Guild W. R. Transfection in pneumococcus: single-strand intermediates in the formation of infective centers. J Virol. 1978 Jan;25(1):60–72. doi: 10.1128/jvi.25.1.60-72.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Porter R. D., Shoemaker N. B., Rampe G., Guild W. R. Bacteriophage-associated gene transfer in pneumococcus: transduction or pseudotransduction? J Bacteriol. 1979 Jan;137(1):556–567. doi: 10.1128/jb.137.1.556-567.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Radloff R., Bauer W., Vinograd J. A dye-buoyant-density method for the detection and isolation of closed circular duplex DNA: the closed circular DNA in HeLa cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1967 May;57(5):1514–1521. doi: 10.1073/pnas.57.5.1514. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ravin A. W., Chen K. C. Heterospecific transformation of pneumococcus and streptococcus. 3. Reduction of linkage. Genetics. 1967 Dec;57(4):851–864. doi: 10.1093/genetics/57.4.851. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Shoemaker N. B., Guild W. R. Destruction of low efficiency markers is a slow process occurring at a heteroduplex stage of transformation. Mol Gen Genet. 1974;128(4):283–290. doi: 10.1007/BF00268516. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Shoemaker N. B., Guild W. R. Kinetics of integration of transforming DNA in pneumococcus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Nov;69(11):3331–3335. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.11.3331. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Smith M. D., Guild W. R. A plasmid in Streptococcus pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1979 Feb;137(2):735–739. doi: 10.1128/jb.137.2.735-739.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Weisblum B., Holder S. B., Halling S. M. Deoxyribonucleic acid sequence common to staphylococcal and streptococcal plasmids which specify erythromycin resistance. J Bacteriol. 1979 Jun;138(3):990–998. doi: 10.1128/jb.138.3.990-998.1979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]