Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T01:52:21.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The plasmid system of Escherichia coli strain UR12644: Identification and molecular characteristics of transposons involved in the generation of endogenous R-plasmids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

F. Schöffl  and
A. Pühler
F. Schöffl
Affiliation:
Institut für Mikrobiologie und Biochemie, Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Egerlandstr. 7, D-8520 Erlangen, Germany
A. Pühler
Affiliation:
Institut für Mikrobiologie und Biochemie, Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Egerlandstr. 7, D-8520 Erlangen, Germany
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Two spontaneously formed R-plasmids (pFS401 and pFS402) originating from the multiple drug-resistant Escherichia coli strain UR12644 were found to carry transposable drug-resistance elements. Incompatibility between these two plasmids was used to select for transposition. An ampicillin transposon (Tn1781) residing on pFS401 and a tetracycline transposon (Tn1771) present on pFS402 were independently translocated to the endogenous RTF-plasmid pFS2. Molecular weight determinations of pFS2::Tn1781(Ap) and pFS2::Tn1771(Tc) revealed a value of 2·9 Mdal for Tn1781 and 7·1 Mdal for Tn1771. The arrangement of 3 PstI and 1 BamHI restriction endonuclease sites was found to be characteristic for the ampicillin transposon whereas the restriction map of Tn1771 features a nearly symmetrical location of 3 EcoRI cleavage sites, two of them close to the termini and one in the middle of the transposon. A model is presented suggesting the existence of repetitive DNA-segments at these positions which represent the structural preconditions for the genetic properties of Tn1771. The role of a cryptic plasmid involved in the generation of the endogenous R-plasmids pFS401 and pFS402 is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , December 1979 , pp. 287 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

References

REFERENCES

Bauer, A. W., Kirby, W. M. M., Sherris, J. C. & Truck, M. (1966). Antibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single disk method. American Journal of Clinical Pathologie 45, 493–496.Google Scholar
Bazaral, M. & Helinski, D. R. (1968). Circular forms of colicinogenic factors El, E2 and E3 from Escherichia coli. Journal of Molecular Biology 36, 185–194.Google Scholar
Bukhari, A. I., Shapiro, J. A. & Adhyda, S. L. eds. (1977) DNA Insertion Elements, Plasmids and Episomes. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.Google Scholar
Burkardt, H. -J., Mattes, R., Schmid, K. & Schmitt, R. (1978). Properties of two conjugative plasmids mediating tetracycline resistance, raffinose catabolism and hydrogen sulphide production in Escherichia coli. Molecular and General Genetics 166, 75–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, S. N., Chang, A. C. Y. & Hsu, L. (1972). Non-chromosomal antibiotic resistance in bacteria: Genetic transformation of Escherichia coli by R-factor DNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A. 69, 2110–2114.Google Scholar
Demerec, M., Adelberg, E. A., Clark, A. J. & Hartman, P. E. (1966). A proposal for uniform nomenclature in bacterial genetics. Genetics 54, 61–76.Google Scholar
Depicker, A., Van Montagu, M. & Schell, J. (1977). In DNA Insertion Elements, Plasmids and Episomes (ed Bukhari, A. I. et al. ) p. 679. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.Google Scholar
Hedges, R. W. & Jacob, A. E. (1974). Transposition of ampicillin resistance from RP4 to other replicons. Molecular and General Genetics 132, 31–40.Google Scholar
Heffron, F., Rubens, C. & Falkow, S. (1975). Translocation of a plasmid DNA sequence which mediates ampicillin resistance: Molecular nature and specificity of insertion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. U.S.A. 72, 3623–3627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helling, R. B., Goodman, H. M. & Boyer, H. W. (1974). Analysis of endonuclease R.EcoRI fragments of DNA from lambdoid bacteriophages and other viruses by agarose gel electrophoresis. Journal of Virology 14, 1235–1244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleckner, N., Barker, D. F., Ross, D. G. & Botstein, D. (1978). Properties of the translocatable tetracycline resistance element Tn10 in Escherichia coli and bacteriophage lambda. Genetics, 90, 427–461.Google Scholar
Kleckner, N., Roth, J. & Botstein, D. (1977). Genetic engineering in vivo using translocatable drug-resistance elements. New methods in bacterial genetics. Journal of Molecular Biology 116, 125–159.Google Scholar
Kopecko, D. J., Brevet, J. & Cohen, S. N. (1976). Involvement of multiple translocating DNA-segments and recombinational hot spots in the structural evolution of bacterial plasmids. Journal of Molecular Biology 108, 333–361.Google Scholar
Lovett, M. A. & Helinski, D. R. (1976). Method for the isolation of the replication region of a bacterial replicon: Construction of a mini F'km plasmid. Journal of Bacteriology 127, 982–987.Google Scholar
Novick, R. P., Clowes, R. S., Cohen, S. N., Curtiss, R., Datta, N. & Falkow, S. (1976). Uniform nomenclature for bacterial plasmids: a proposal. Bacteriological Review 40, 168–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ptashne, K. & Cohen, S. N. (1975). Occurence of insertion sequence (IS) regions on plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid as direct and inverted nucleotide sequence duplications. Journal of Bacteriology 122, 776–781.Google Scholar
Pühler, A., Burkardt, H.-J. & Klipp, W. (1979). Cloning of the entire region for nitrogen fixation from Klebsiella pneumoniae on a multicopy plasmid vehicle in Escherichia coli. Molecular and General Genetics (in the press).Google Scholar
Radloff, R., Bauer, W. & Vinograd, J. (1967). A dye-buoyant density method for the detection and isolation of closed circular duplex DNA. The closed circular DNA in Hela cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A. 57, 1514–1520.Google Scholar
Rosenvold, E. C. & Honigman, A. (1977). Mapping of Aval and XmaI cleavage sites in bacteriophage λ-DNA including a new technique of DNA digestion in agarose gels. Gene 2, 273–288.Google Scholar
Rubens, C., Heffron, F. & Falkow, S. (1976). Transposition of a plasmid DNA sequence which mediates ampicillin resistance: independence from host rec functions and orientation of insertion. Journal of Bacteriology 128, 425–434.Google Scholar
Saunders, J. R. & Grinsted, J. (1972). Properties of RP4 an R-factor which originated in Pseudomonas aeroginosa S8. Journal of Bacteriology 112, 690–696.Google Scholar
Schildkraut, C. L., Marmur, J. & Doty, P. (1962). Determination of base composition of deoxyribonucleie acid from its buoyant density in CsCl. Journal of Molecular Biology 4, 430–443.Google Scholar
Schmitt, R., Bernhard, E. & Mattes, R. (1979). Characterization of Tn1721, a new transposon containing tetracycline resistance genes capable of amplification. Molecular and General Genetics 172, 53–65.Google Scholar
Schöffl, F., Pühler, A. & Heumann, W. (1977). Identification and characterization of a new resistance transfer factor isolated from Eschericha coli. In Plasmid s: Medical and Theoretical Aspects (ed. Mitsuhashi, S. et al. ), pp. 161–170. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Schöffl, F. & Burkardt, H. -J. (1979). Plasmids of Medical, Environmental and Commercial Importance (ed. Timmis, K. and A., Pühler). Amsterdam: Elsevier, North Holland Press, (In the Press).Google Scholar
Schöffl, F. & Pühler, A. (1979). Intramolecular amplification of the tetracycline resistance determinant of transposon Tn1771 in Escherichia coli. Genetical Research 33, 253–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schöffl, F. (1979). The influence of the recA-mutation on the intramolecular gene amplification of Tn1771 in Escherichia coli. IVth International Symposium on Antibiotic Resistance, Smolenice (ed. Mitsuhashi, S. et al. ). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. (In the Press).Google Scholar
Timmis, K. N., Cabello, F. & Cohen, S. N. (1974). Utilization of two distinct modes of replication by a hybrid plasmid constructed in vitro from separate replicons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, U.S.A. 71, 4556–4560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traub, W. H. & Kleber, I. (1974). Isolation of two strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae with transferable resistance determinants against ten antimicrobial drugs from clinical material. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie und Hygiene (I. Abt., Orig. A) 229, 80–88.Google Scholar
Traub, W. H. & Kleber, I. (1975). Characterization of two H2S-producing, multiple drug resistant isolates of Escherichia coli from clinical urine specimens. Pathol. Microbiology 43, 10–16.Google Scholar