Mutants of the mini-F plasmid pML31 thermosensitive in replication.

Hydroxylamine mutagenesis was used for the induction of thermosensitive replication mutants of the mini-F plasmid pML31. Replication mutants were characterized by studying the segregation kinetics and the incorporation of [3H]-thymidine into plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid at the nonpermissive temperature. Based on these experiments two types of mutants could be distinguished. Mutants of type I are fast segregating with the kinetics expected if plasmid replication was blocked immediately. Double-label experiments showed a rapid shut-off of replication in these mutants at 42 degrees C. Mutants of type II segregate slower, showing only a partial inhibition of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis at the nonpermissive temperature. The label incorporated at 42 degrees C was predominantly found in open circular plasmid molecules.     

Cell cycle analysis of F''lac replication in Escherichia coli B/r.

The timing and control of replication of an F'lac plasmid was investigated in two substrains of Escherichia coli B/r lac/F'lac growing at a variety of rates. The cellular content of covalently closed circular F'lac deoxyribonucleic acid and the cellular mass at the time of F'lac replication both increased as a function of growth rate. The timing of plasmid replication during the division cycle was determined by measuring the inducibility of beta-galactosidase in cells of different ages in exponentially growing cultures. At all growth rates, the rate of induced beta-galactosidase synthesis increased in a step-wise fashion during the division cycle, indicating that the F'lac plasmid replicated at a discrete time in the cycle. At growth rates greater than one doubling per h, the cell age at F'lac replication was indistinguishable from the cell age at chromosomal lac+ replication in an isogenic F- parent. The ratio of plasmids to chromosomal origins decreased from about 0.7 to 0.4 between growth rates of 1.0 to 2.5 doublings per h. These observations are all consistent with replication of F'lac at about the same time in the division cycle as replication of the homologous chromosomal region at these growth rates. This similarity in timing of replication of homologous deoxyribonucleic acid regions was not evident in slower-growing cells.     

Suppression of an Escherichia coli dnaA mutation by the integrated R factor R100.1: origin of chromosome replication during exponential growth.

We have investigated the behavior, during exponential growth, of strains of Escherichia coli carrying a dnaA(Ts) mutation that has been suppressed by the integration of the F-like R plasmid R100.1. We present evidence showing that replication in these strains proceeds largely from the normal chromosome origin at 30 degrees C, a permissive temperature for the dnaA(Ts) gene product, whereas, at 42 degrees C, replication proceeds largely from the integrated plasmid. These conclusions are based on measurements made by deoxyribonucleic acid:deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization of the relative frequencies of the prophages Mu-1 and lambdaind- and R100.1 integrated at known locations on the E. coli chromosome in these Hfr strains.     

Genetic organization of the broad-host-range IncP-1 plasmid R751.

We have identified regions encoding conjugal transfer, plasmid maintenance, and trimethoprim resistance on the IncP-1 plasmid R751 by complementation tests with cloned deoxyribonucleic acid fragments and self-replicating derivatives constructed in vitro. The genes for replication and transfer show a scattered organization similar to that previously determined for RK2, another IncP-1 plasmid. Derivatives of RK2 are able to complement R751 derivatives defective in these functions. Restriction enzyme cleavage sites in R751 deoxyribonucleic acid are clustered in regions of the plasmid physical map. Neither region is required for plasmid maintenance or transfer, although one determines resistance to trimethoprim. A similar clustering of cleavage sites is seen with RK2, which nevertheless has a very different restriction map.     

Location of two relaxation nick sites in R6K and single sites in pSC101 and RSF1010 close to origins of vegetative replication: implication for conjugal transfer of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid.

A nick-labeling method has been used to localize the relaxation complex nick sites in three plasmids (pSC101, RSF1010, and R6K) that differ markedly in their host range, deoxyribonucleic acid replication, and conjugal transfer properties. Single specific relaxation sites were located in pSC101 and RSF1010, but surprisingly two distinct sites could be identified in the bi-origin plasmid R6K. In all cases, relaxation nick sites, which are thought to be origins of plasmid conjugal transfer, were shown to be located near origins of vegetative replication. This result suggests a functional interaction between these two types of deoxyribonucleic acid loci, and we speculate here that application events initiated at origins of replication may constitute an integral part of the process of conjugal transfer of small plasmids among bacteria. Consistent with this proposal is the finding that inhibition of vegetative replication of the pSC101 and ColE1 plasmids results in a severe inhibition of their conjugal transfer ability.     

Binding of homologous polymerized deoxyribonucleic acid by Streptomyces griseus

Germaine, G. R. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis), and D. L. Anderson. Binding of homologous polymerized deoxyribonucleic acid by Streptomyces griseus. J. Bacteriol. 92:662-667. 1966-An irreversible P(32) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) binding system is described for Streptomyces griseus S104. The 69% guanine plus cytosine (GC) S. griseus DNA was bound by late exponential -early stationary phase cultures. Simultaneous addition of deoxyribonuclease with the P(32)-DNA to maximally receptive cultures reduced the uptake by 98%. Saturation of the binding ability occurred after 20-min incubation of cells with P(32)-DNA. Preparative cesium chloride density gradient centrifugation of the P(32)-DNA revealed that 98% of the label banded in the position expected for S. griseus DNA. Sedimentation of the P(32)-DNA at both 23 and 37 mug/ml indicated a molecular weight of 10.8 million. Attempts to transform S. griseus S104 auxotrophs to prototrophy by use of immediate and delayed selective procedures were unsuccessful.     

Isolation and Characterization of Mutants of Colicin Plasmids E1 and E2 After Mu Bacteriophage Infection

Cells colicinogenic for the colicin plasmids E1 or E2 (Col E1 and Col E2, respectively) were selected for a loss of colicin production after infection with bacteriophage Mu. Extrachromosomal deoxyribonucleic acid that was larger than the original colicin plasmids was found in such cells. A small insertion mutant in Col E1 deoxyribonucleic acid affecting active colicin production without affecting either expression of colicin immunity or Col E1 deoxyribonucleic acid replication was found. Cells carrying this Col E1 plasmid mutant do not exhibit the lethal event associated with colicin E1 induction, suggesting that synthesis of active colicin is required for killing during induction. The altered Col E2 plasmid, containing an insertion at least as large as phage Mu, was maintained unstably in the mutants examined.     

Plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid in Rhizobium trifolii.

In deoxyribonucleic acid of Rhizobium trifolii centrifuged in cesium chloride-ethidium bromide equilibrium was found a sattelite peak containing covalently closed circular deoxyribonucleic acid. The plasmid had a molecular weight of about 64 x 10(6) shown by sedimentation in sucrose gradients and electron microscopy.     

Replication Control and Switch-Off Function as Observed with a Mini-F Factor Plasmid

Mini-F is a fragment of the F plasmid, consisting of 9,000 base pairs, which carries all of the genes and sites required for replicon maintenance and control. Its copy number is one to two per chromosome. This plasmid is joined to ColE1, whose copy number is 16 to 20. Under normal circumstances the composite plasmid replication exhibited ColE1 characteristics, maintaining a high copy number. However, when ColE1 replication was inhibited by deoxyribonucleic acid polymerase I inactivation, its replication exhibited mini-F characteristics, maintaining a low copy number. These observations are in complete agreement with those of Timmis et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 71:4556-4560, 1974), who examined the behavior of a recombinant plasmid formed between pSC101 and ColE1. The transition from high to low copy number allowed us to examine the control system acting in cells carrying plasmids exhibiting intermediate copy numbers. The initiation of the mini-F replication system as represented by deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis of the composite plasmid was completely blocked when there were multiple copies of mini-F in a cell. It was not restored until the copy number was lowered to one to two, after which replication was first detected. ppF, a mini-F replicon packaged in a phage λ head behaved similarly: its replication was completely shut off when the resident mini-F genome copy number was high and was inhibited partially when the resident mini-F genome copy number was low. These experiments clearly demonstrate that there is a switch-off mechanism acting on deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis (initiation) in a cell carrying mini-F, and its intensity is related to the plasmid copy number. This result supports the “inhibitor dilution model” proposed by Pritchard et al. (Symp. Soc. Gen. Microbiol. 19:263-297, 1969). The nature of the hypothetical inhibitor is discussed.     

The integrated and free states of Streptomyces griseus plasmid pSG1

A 16.6-kb plasmid-pSG1-was isolated from Streptomyces griseus following transformation of protoplasts with unrelated plasmids. Southern hybridization experiments with radioactive probes prepared from pSG1 fragments and immobilized S. griseus DNA fragments indicated that the plasmid was present in the progenitor strain, in an integrated state. In the pSG1+ isolates plasmid sequences existed both as integrated sequences and as free plasmids. The integrated state of maintenance persisted in strains which have been cured of the free plasmid. The junction site on the plasmid was located on a 0.5-kb EcoRI-SalI fragment. The chromosomal integration site was demonstrated to be the same in all strains derived from S. griseus NRRL3851. The occurrence of both states of plasmid maintenance in the same clones indicates that an integrated pSG1 sequence does not interfere with free plasmid replication and partition. It suggests that the establishment of the free state may involve a replicative excision of pSG1 from the S. griseus chromosome.     

Plasmid-mediated transformation in Bacillus megaterium.

A transformation system was developed for Bacillus megaterium by using antibiotic resistance plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid molecules derived from Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. Lysozyme-generated protoplasts of B. megaterium allowed uptake of plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid in the presence of polyethylene glycol. Transformants expressed the antibiotic resistance determinants present on the plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid, and reisolated plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid yielded restriction endonuclease digestion patterns identical to those of the donor deoxyribonucleic acid.     

Replication of plasmids in mutants of Escherichia coli temperature-sensitive for initiation of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis

Plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication was studied in Escherichia coli hosts carrying temperature-sensitive (ts) initiation mutations. The replication of the R plasmid NR1 continues at the nonpermissive temperature in a ts dnaA mutant host but at a decreasing rate in proportion to the residual chromosome synthesis. The replication of NR1, as well as of the F plasmid F′lac, ceases immediately at the nonpermissive temperature in a ts dnaC mutant host. The ability to reinitiate R plasmid replication in the absence of protein or ribonucleic acid synthesis is accumulated at the nonpermissive temperature in a dnaC mutant host.     

Isolation and characterization of replication-deficient mutants of ColE1 plasmids.

Replication-defective mutants of plasmid ColE1 were isolated from a chimeric plasmid formed by ligating a temperature-sensitive replication derivative of pSC101, pHSG1, with a ColE1-Tn3-containing plasmid. The replication-defective ColE1 mutants isolated were all spontaneous deletion mutants that had lost the ColE1 replication origin and regions adjacent to it. The extent of a deletion was determined by analyzing restriction endonuclease-generated deoxyribonucleic acid fragments of the ColE1 plasmid component of the chimeras by both agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. None of the chimeras containing the replication-defective ColE1 mutants was able to replicate in the presence of chloramphenicol. The expression of ColE1 incompatibility was either markedly reduced or not detectable in the replication mutants isolated.     

R Factor Deoxyribonucleic Acid in Chromosomeless Progeny of Escherichia coli

The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of resistance (R) factor 222 carried by Escherichia coli strain P678-54 was found in the normally chromosomeless progeny (minicells) of that strain. The entry of the R222 DNA into minicells appears to be via segregation at the time of their formation from normal cells. The R222 DNA can replicate in minicells although the extent of its replication appears to be limited. An analysis of the R222 DNA structure indicates that it exists in minicells as double-stranded linear, open circular, and twisted circular monomers (molecular weight, about 6.2 x 10(7) daltons). The monomers visualized by electron microscopy are 31.0 +/- 0.5 mum in length. An examination of the effect of acridine orange on the replication of R222 and colicin E1 DNA indicates the dye intereferes with plasmid DNA replication.     

Structure of Caulobacter deoxyribonucleic acid.

The deoxyribonucleic acid of the dimorphic bacterium Caulobacter crescentus contains a component that renatures with rapid, unimolecular kinetics. This component was present in both swarmer and stalked cells and exhibited the sensitivity to endonuclease S1 expected for hairpin loops. Double-stranded side branches between 100 and 600 nucleotide pairs in length were visible in electron micrographs of rapidly reassociating deoxyribonucleic acid isolated by hydroxyapatite chromatography. No extrachromosomal elements were found in spite of systematic attempts to detect their presence. These results indicate that the rapidly reassociating fraction derives from inverted repeat sequences within the chromosome and not from cross-links or plasmids. We estimate that there are approximately 350 inverted repeat regions per Caulobacter genome. The kinetic complexity of Caulobacter deoxyribonucleic acid, however, is no greater than that of other bacteria.     

Direction of deoxyribonucleic acid transfer and replication in a derivative of plasmid R100-1.

The site of integration and the molecular orientation of a prophage Mu integrated within the resistance transfer factor component of plasmid R100-1 have been determined on the physical map of the plasmid. This allowed us (i) to determine the direction of deoxyribonucleic acid transfer from oriT during conjugation and (ii) to demonstrate the unidirectionality of replication in conditions of exponential growth (by determining the strand preference of Mu-specific Okazaki fragments).     

Conjugal Deoxyribonucleic Acid Replication by Escherichia coli K-12: Effect of Nalidixic Acid

During the conjugal transfer of the R64-11 plasmid at 42 C from donor cells thermosensitive for vegetative deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis to recipient minicells, the plasmids are conjugally replicated in the donor cells. This conjugal replication is inhibited by nalidixic acid, and the degree of inhibition is comparable to the reduction in the amount of plasmid DNA transferred to the recipient minicells in the presence of the drug. In addition, the size of DNA transferred to the minicells and the fraction of conjugally replicated DNA in the donor cells that can be isolated as closed-circular plasmid DNA under alkaline conditions are both reduced by nalidixic acid. When the drug is added to a mating that is underway, the rate of conjugal replication is immediately reduced. This change is accompanied by a reduction in the amount of conjugally replicated DNA in the donor cells that can be isolated as closed-circular plasmid DNA. Furthermore, conjugally replicated plasmid DNA that is not associated with the donor cell membrane becomes membrane bound after the addition of nalidixic acid.     

Mode of replication of the conjugative R-plasmid RSF1040 in Escherichia coli.

Replicating deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules of plasmid RSF1040, a deletion mutant of the conjugative R plasmid R6K, appear in the electron microscope as partially supercoiled structures with two open circular branches of equal size, although open structures with three branches, two branching points and no supercoiled regions (theta structures) were also found at a lower frequency. The partially supercoiled molecules sediment more rapidly than native covalently closed circular DNA in neutral sucrose gradients and band at a position intermediate between covalently closed circular and open circular DNA in CsClethidium bromide gradients. Electron microscope measurements of the linear EcoRI-treated replicative intermediates indicate that replication can be initiated at two sites (origins) on the plasmid DNA molecule located at about 23% (alpha) and 39% (beta) of the total genome length from an EcoRI end designated arbitrarily as the "left-hand" end of the molecule. The overall replication of RSF1040 is asymmetrically bidirectional. Replication from the alpha origin proceeds first to the "right" to a unique termination site located some 55% of the total genome length from the left-hand end of the molecule. At this point replication proceeds from the alpha origin to the "left" (i.e., opposite to the original direction of replication) until replication of the molecule is completed. Replication also proceeds from the beta origin asymmetrically to the unique terminus site.     

Suppression of an Escherichia coli dnaA mutation by the integrated R factor R.100.1: Change of chromosome replication origin in synchronized cultures.

We have followed, by deoxyribonucleic acid-deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization, the order of replication of three chromosomal markers during a synchronous round of replication in three strains of Escherichia coli carrying a dnaAts mutation: one strain in which the F-like R factor R.100.1 was established as a plasmid and two strains in which the dnaA mutation was suppressed by the integration of R.100.1 into the chromosome. In the R+ strain at 30C, replication of the plasmid took place simultaneously with the initiation of chromosome replication at the normal origin. In the integratively suppressed Hfr strains, at 42.5 C, chromosome replication was initiated preferentially from the integrated plasmid; little or no initiation occurred at the normal origin. Similar results were obtained for the one strain tested at 30 C. For both Hfr strains at 42.5 C, the data suggest that at least part of the population replicated bidirectionally. This conclusion had been confirmed using an autoradiographic procedure. Both types of experiment indicate a wide variation in the rate of travel of individual replication forks within the population.     

Effect of Inhibitors of Ribonucleic Acid and Protein Synthesis on the Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate Stimulation of Plasmid ColE1 Replication

Addition of cyclic adenosine 3'-5'-monophosphate (c-AMP) to growing Escherichia coli cells, colicinogenic for the plasmid ColE1, results in a fourfold stimulation in the rate of synthesis of the plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The stimulation is transient (30 min) and is succeeded by a brief period (30 min) of cessation of plasmid DNA replication. The stimulation of ColE1 DNA replication also occurs in chloramphenicol-treated cells. Rifampin inhibits ColE1 DNA replication in the presence or absence of c-AMP. Employing thymine starvation conditions to stop ColE1 DNA synthesis, it was found that c-AMP, added during the period of thymine starvation, effected a stimulation in the amount of subsequent replication which took place when replicating conditions were restored. The stimulatory effect of c-AMP under these conditions was not prevented by chloramphenicol but was completely eliminated when rifampin was present. Under these conditions, when rifampin was added after the effect of c-AMP was allowed to occur, subsequent replication of the plasmid could take place, but only one round of replication occurred. A model to account for the c-AMP effects is presented.