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. 1978 Sep;135(3):911–919. doi: 10.1128/jb.135.3.911-919.1978

Transfer-deficient mutants of the narrow-host-range plasmid R91-5 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

J M Carrigan, Z M Helman, V Krishnapillai
PMCID: PMC222464  PMID: 99439

Abstract

Three methods have been successful in the isolation of transfer-deficient mutants of the narrow-host-range R plasmid R91-5 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: (i) selection for donor-specific phage resistance; (ii) direct screening after mutagenic treatment with either ethyl methane sulfonate or N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine; (iii) in vitro mutagenesis of plasmid DNA by hydroxylamine followed by transformation and direct screening. The majority of transfer-deficient mutants were donor-specific phage resistant, supporting the view that sex pili and other surface components are essential for conjugal transfer (since the phages PRD1 and PR4 adsorb to these sites). Some of the transfer-deficient mutants were also unable to inhibit the replication of phage G101 or lost entry exclusion or both phenotypes. The ability to revert these pleiotropic mutants to wild type implicates the latter two functions in R91-5 transfer. Suppressor mutations in P. aeruginosa enabled the detection of suppressor-sensitive, transfer-deficient mutants. Such mutants should prove useful in conjugational complementation tests for the identification of the transfer cistrons of R91-5.

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Selected References

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

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