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. 1973 May;70(5):1293–1297. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.5.1293

Recircularization and Autonomous Replication of a Sheared R-Factor DNA Segment in Escherichia coli Transformants*

Stanley N Cohen 1, Annie C Y Chang 1
PMCID: PMC433482  PMID: 4576014

Abstract

Controlled shearing of R-factor DNA leads to formation of fragments carrying an antibiotic resistance gene present on, but not expressed by, the intact R-factor. Transformation of CaCl2-treated E. coli by such fragments yields an autonomously replicating tetracycline-resistance plasmid (Tc6-5) that contains only a small fraction of the genome of the parent R-factor, and lacks both its fertility functions and its other drug-resistance determinants. Although the Tc6-5 plasmid is not self-transmissible, it can interact and/or recombine with conjugally-proficient plasmids that promote its transfer to other bacteria.

Keywords: plasmid, transformation, antibiotic resistance, DNA

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Selected References

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