Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Applied and Environmental Microbiology logoLink to Applied and Environmental Microbiology
. 1979 Nov;38(5):974–979. doi: 10.1128/aem.38.5.974-979.1979

Description of a bacteriocinogenic plasmid in Beneckea harveyi.

J O McCall, R K Sizemore
PMCID: PMC243617  PMID: 317423

Abstract

A total of 795 strains of marine Vibrio species and Beneckea harveyi, a luminescent marine bacterium, were isolated from various sources in the area of Galveston Island, Tex., and screened for the production of bacteriocin-like substances. More than 8% of the Vibrio isolates produced low-molecular-weight (dialyzable) substances, which were lethal to a test strain of V. parahaemolyticus. Approximately 5% of the B. harveyi isolates produced higher-molecular-weight (nondialyzable) substances which were lethal to a test strain of B. harveyi. One of the B. harveyi strains (strain SY) produced a nondialyzable substance which was lethal to two of 39 strains of B. harveyi. The substance showed no activity toward 17 test strains drawn from the Vibrionaceae and Enterobacteriaceae. Strain SY showed no sensitivity to its own lethal agent and was shown by agarose gel electrophoresis and electron microscopy to harbor a single plasmid of 38 x 10(6) daltons. Variants of strain SY lacking the plasmid were produced by growth in the presence of the antibiotic novobiocin. These variants lacked both the ability to produce the lethal substance and the ability to survive in its presence. The lethal agent produced by strain SY is the first bacteriocin reported in marine bacteria. The term "harveyicin" is proposed to name this lethal substance.

Full text

PDF
974

Images in this article

977Image
on p.977

Selected References

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

  1. Aoki T., Egusa S., Watanabe T. Detection of R + bacteria in cultured marine fish, yellowtails (Seriola quinqueradiata). Jpn J Microbiol. 1973 Jan;17(1):7–12. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1973.tb00697.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. 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]
  3. Clowes R. C. Molecular structure of bacterial plasmids. Bacteriol Rev. 1972 Sep;36(3):361–405. doi: 10.1128/br.36.3.361-405.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Guerry P., Colwell R. R. Isolation of cryptic plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid from Kanagawa-positive strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Infect Immun. 1977 Apr;16(1):328–334. doi: 10.1128/iai.16.1.328-334.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hardy K. G. Colicinogeny and related phenomena. Bacteriol Rev. 1975 Dec;39(4):464–515. doi: 10.1128/br.39.4.464-515.1975. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kékessy D. A., Piguet J. D. New method for detecting bacteriocin production. Appl Microbiol. 1970 Aug;20(2):282–283. doi: 10.1128/am.20.2.282-283.1970. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. McHugh G. L., Swartz M. N. Elimination of plasmids from several bacterial species by novobiocin. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1977 Sep;12(3):423–426. doi: 10.1128/aac.12.3.423. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Meyers J. A., Sanchez D., Elwell L. P., Falkow S. Simple agarose gel electrophoretic method for the identification and characterization of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid. J Bacteriol. 1976 Sep;127(3):1529–1537. doi: 10.1128/jb.127.3.1529-1537.1976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Richmond M. H. Resistance factors and their ecological importance to bacteria and to man. Prog Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol. 1973;13:191–248. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6603(08)60104-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Rogul M., Carr S. R. Variable ammonia production among smooth and rough strains of Pseudomonas pseudomallei: resemblance to bacteriocin production. J Bacteriol. 1972 Oct;112(1):372–380. doi: 10.1128/jb.112.1.372-380.1972. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rowbury R. J. Bacterial plasmids with particular reference to their replication and transfer properties. Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 1977;31(3):271–317. doi: 10.1016/0079-6107(78)90011-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sizemore R. K., Colwell R. R. Plasmids carried by antibiotic-resistant marine bacteria. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1977 Sep;12(3):373–382. doi: 10.1128/aac.12.3.373. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Applied and Environmental Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES