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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):3628–3632. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.9.3628

Transposition of R factor genes to bacteriophage lambda.

D E Berg, J Davies, B Allet, J D Rochaix
PMCID: PMC433049  PMID: 1059152

Abstract

Transpositions of segments of R factor (antibiotic resistance plasmids) to bacteriophage lambda have been selected and characterized. Cells of Escherichia coli harboring R factors that determine kanamycin resistance were infected with phage lambda, and lambdakan transducing lines were obtained. Each of the three examined is unusual when compared to lambda transducing phages containing E. coli chromosomal genes: the kan insertions (a) occur at several sites, each well removed from the integration region POP', (b) are not associated with deletion of lambda phage DNA, and (c) are separable from the lambda genome during transduction or during lytic growth. Two insertions from the same R factor contain 1.5 kilobase sequences repeated in inverted order. The properties of the lambdakan phage suggest that R factors contain systems capable of mediating genetic exchange in the absence of extensive DNA homology. It is suggested that such systems of exchange may have played important roles in R factor evolution.

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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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