Effect of the gene for bacterial hemoglobin vhb on the effectiveness of the process of Escherichia coli-Streptomyces interspecies conjugation and production of antibiotics in streptomycetes

The bacterial hemoglobin vhb gene was cloned from sliding bacterium Vitreoscilla sp. as an element of the system ensuring survival of this microorganism in an environment that contains insufficient amount of oxygen. The vhb gene was transferred from Escherichia coli to some Streptomyces strains, producers of antibiotics, by the method of intergeneric conjugation using conjugative-integrative plasmid vectors pIH1 and pCH2. The stability of plasmid DNA inheritance was analyzed in the genomes of exconjugants. A positive effect of the vhb gene on processes of conjugation and antibiotic production in a number of examined strains was shown.