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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1975 Sep;72(9):3623–3627. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.9.3623

Translocation of a plasmid DNA sequence which mediates ampicillin resistance: molecular nature and specificity of insertion.

F Heffron, C Rubens, S Falkow
PMCID: PMC433048  PMID: 1103150

Abstract

A series of recombinant plasmids was generated in Escherichia coli in which the TEM beta-lactamase translocon (TnA) was inserted into the small plasmid RSF1010. RSF1010 is a 5.5 X 10(6) dalton nonconjugative plasmid which confers resistance to streptomycin and sulfonamide. The recombinant plasmids can be classified into three clearly defined phenotypic groups. Group I is ampicillin-, streptomycin- and sulfonamide-resistant. Group II is ampicillin- and sulfonamide-resistant but has lost streptomycin resistance. Group III is ampicillin-resistant but is sensitive to sulfonamide and shows a simultaneous 30-fold reduction in the minimal inhibitory concentration of streptomycin. It was possible to map the site of insertion of TnA within RSF1010 by electron microscope studies of DNA heteroduplexes formed between RSF1010 and recombinant plasmids. Insertions of TnA occur at, at least, 12 distinct sites in a region corresponding to one-third of the RSF1010 DNA molecule. Those insertions giving rise to particular phenotypes are clustered. Insertions of TnA-like insertion sequences (IS) appear to give rise to strongly polar mutations.

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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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