Isolation and characterization of pock-forming plasmids for Streptomyces griseus from soil actinomycetes

Thirty independent actinomycetes strains carrying plasmids were isolated from soil. These plasmids were purified as cccDNA by CsCl-EtBr equilibrium density-gradient centrifugation. Plasmids that induce "pocks", namely formation of circular zones of sporulation-inhibition, were selected by protoplast transformation of streptomycin-producing strain, Streptomyces griseus ATCC10137. Six pock-forming plasmids, pOA7, pOA11, pOA15, pOA23, pOA29 and pOA30, were obtained, and their cleavage maps, transformation frequencies, and copy numbers, as well as their stability, are described.