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. 1976 Oct;128(1):463–472. doi: 10.1128/jb.128.1.463-472.1976

Molecular cloning of an Escherichia coli plasmid determinant than encodes for the production of heat-stable enterotoxin.

M So, H W Boyer, M Betlach, S Falkow
PMCID: PMC232874  PMID: 789348

Abstract

A conjugative plasmid, ESF0041 was isolated from an enterotoxigenic strain of Escherichia coli from calves. ESF0041 was found to be 65 x 10(6) daltons in mass of a member of the F incompatibility complex. Acquisition of ESF0041 by E. coli K-12 was invariably associated with the capacity to produce heat-stable (ST) enterotoxin. ESF0041 and pSC101 deoxyribonucleic acids were cleaved with EcoRI, and the fragments were ligated with polynucleotide ligase. Transformation of E. coli K-12 with the ligation mixture led to the isolation of an ST+ clone. Further analysis of the plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid from this clone showed that a structural gene(s) associated with ST biosynthesis had been isolated as a 5.7 x 10(6)-dalton ESF0041 fragment in pSC101. In turn, 5.7 x 10(6)-dalton fragment was ligated to a multicopy COLE1 derivative, RSF2124, so that toxin synthesis was amplified about threefold.

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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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