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. 1980 Jul;29(1):140–143. doi: 10.1128/iai.29.1.140-143.1980

Transfer of a CFA/I-ST plasmid promoted by a conjugative plasmid in a strain of Escherichia coli of serotype O128ac:H12.

M H Reis, M Heloiza, T Affonso, L R Trabulsi, A J Mazaitis, R Maas, W K Maas
PMCID: PMC551086  PMID: 6249752

Abstract

Escherichia coli strains belonging to serotype O128ac:H12 and producing heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) and colonization factor CFA/I were found in Sao Paulo in children with diarrhea, but not in normal children. Segregants occurred in such strains with a frequency of about 10%, which have lost the ability to produce ST and CFA/I at the same time. From one strain, both properties were transformed jointly in matings to an E. coli K-12 strain. All such ST+ CFA/I+ progeny had received two plasmids of length 97 and 64 kilobases in the matings. Insertion of a transposon, Tn5, carrying a gene for kanamycin resistance, into the two plasmids enabled us to select for kanamycin-resistant progeny in further matings. Analysis of such progeny strains in terms of plasmid content and production of ST and CFA/I revealed that the larger plasmid carries the genes for St and CFA/I and is not self-transmissible, whereas the smaller plasmid does not carry any recognizable phenotypic traits, but is conjugative and promotes cotransfer of the larger plasmid with a frequency of about 30%.

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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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