Transformation and expression of plasmid from Nocardioides sp. to Pseudomonas putida

Nocardioides sp. isolated from contaminated soil showed the presence of sulphur oxidizing (SO) genes in the plasmid pSB1 (34·2 kb). The presence of SO genes was confirmed by transformation to a plasmid-free Pseudomonas putida strain followed by hybridization studies.     

Construction of isogenic gonococcal strains varying in the presence of a 4.2-kilobase cryptic plasmid.

A 4.2-kilobase (kb) cryptic plasmid is present in 96% of isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae. An inability to construct isogenic derivatives which vary in the presence of the 4.2-kb plasmid has prevented the study of its function. We report a method to deliver an intact 4.2-kb plasmid into plasmidless gonococcal strains. The method involved transformation with novel 15.7-kb hybrid penicillinase-producing (Pcr) plasmids, which were cointegrates containing two copies of the 4.2-kb plasmid arranged in tandem direct repeat plus one copy of the 7.2-kb Pcr plasmid pFA3. When the 15.7-kb hybrid Pcr plasmids were introduced into a gonococcal recipient lacking evident plasmids, they dissociated at a relatively high frequency into plasmids identical to their parents: the 4.2-kb cryptic plasmid and pFA10 (a stable 11.5-kb plasmid containing one copy of each of the 7.2-kb Pcr plasmid pFA3 and the 4.2-kb cryptic plasmid pFA1). Curing strains of their Pcr plasmids resulted in isogenic strains which varied only in the presence of the 4.2-kb plasmid. The presence of the autonomously replicating 4.2-kb plasmid did not affect a number of tested phenotypes, including auxotype, antibiotic sensitivity, and frequencies of variation of outer membrane protein II. The interpretation of the functional significance of the 4.2-kb plasmid was complicated, however, by the additional finding that each of three tested plasmid-free strains contained a chromosomal fragment of about 1.6 kb that hybridized under moderate stringency with a 1.65-kb HinfI fragment of the 4.2-kb plasmid.     

Excision and integration of degradative pathway genes from TOL plasmid pWW0.

WR211 is a transconjugant resulting from transfer of the 117-kilobase (kb) TOL degradative plasmid pWW0 into Pseudomonas sp. strain B13. The plasmid of this strain, pWW01211, is 78 kb long, having suffered a deletion of 39 kb. We show that WR211 contains the 39 kb that is missing from its plasmid, together with at least an additional 17 kb of pWW0 DNA integrated in another part of the genome, probably the chromosome. The ability of WR211 to grow on the TOL-specific substrate m-toluate is the result of expression of the TOL genes in this alternative location, whereas its inability to grow on m-xylene is caused by insertional mutagenesis by 3 kb of DNA of unknown origin in the xylR gene of this DNA. The resident plasmid pWW01211 plays no part in the degradative phenotype of WR211 since it can be expelled by mating in incompatible IncP9 resistance plasmid R2 or pMG18 without loss of the phenotype. This alternatively located DNA can be rescued back into the R2 and pMG18 plasmids as R2::TOL and pMG18::TOL recombinants by mating out into plasmid-free recipients and selecting for Mtol+ transconjugants. In all cases examined, these plasmids contained the entire R plasmid into which is inserted 59 kb of DNA, made up of 56 kb of pWW0 DNA and the 3-kb xylR insertion. Selection for faster growth on benzoate can lead to precise excision of the 39 kb from the TOL region of an R2::TOL recombinant, leaving a residual and apparently cryptic 17-kb segment of pWW0 DNA in the R plasmid.     

Characterization and restriction analysis of the P sex factor and the cryptic plasmid of Vibrio cholerae strain V58

The P plasmid of Vibrio cholerae is a derepressed sex factor restricted to V. cholerae and has been shown to express surface exclusion. We have isolated the plasmids of strain V58 and have found that in addition to P, two further cryptic plasmids are also present. P has a size of 68 kb as determined by both electron microscopy and restriction endonuclease analysis. These other plasmids are 34 and 4.7 kb in size. Restriction maps of P and the larger cryptic plasmid have been determined. It has been demonstrated that P differs from the standard Inc group test plasmids and also expresses a surface exclusion system. The ability of the type Inc plasmids to be transferred to V. cholerae by either liquid or filter matings and the stability of these plasmids in V. cholerae have also been examined.     

Characterization of a new mitochondrial plasmid from Fusarium proliferatum

A 10.3kb linear mitochondrial DNA plasmid designated pFP1 was isolated from Fusarium proliferatum. The DNA sequence of the plasmid consists of 10,336bp with perfect terminal inverted repeats of 400bp. Two major, non-overlapping ORFs were identified on opposite strands, encoding a phage-type RNA polymerase and a family B type DNA polymerase, respectively. One additional minor ORF encoding a putative highly basic protein was also identified. The copy number of pFP1, as determined by RT-PCR, ranged between 1.8 and 3.1 per mtDNA copies depending on the host strain. Real-time PCR analysis of a total of 400 cultures surviving ethidium bromide curing indicated that no plasmid-free strains could be obtained by this treatment. Further single spore selections of the survivors with reduced plasmid content were needed to obtain plasmid-free clones. No phenotypic differences were found between the wild-type strains and their plasmid-free progenies.     

A cryptic plasmid from Shigella sonnei

pNZ500 is a 1.5 kb cryptic plasmid from a Shigella sonnei isolate. It was introduced into Escherichia coli by cotransformation, where it is maintained at about 30 copies per chromosome equivalent. Hybridization studies show that pNZ500 exhibits a high level of sequence similarity to other 1.5 kb plasmids found in different S. sonnei isolates but shares no homology with larger S. sonnei plasmids. pNZ500 shares a small degree of sequence homology with pBR322 and with pAC184. The homology with pBR322 is restricted to sequences close to the ori-bom region of this plasmid. Nevertheless, pNZ500 maintenance in E. coli is not dependent on DNA polymerase I activity, and does depend on continuing protein synthesis. pNZ500 encodes two polypeptide gene products whose monomer molecular weights are 24500 and 18000. The examination of host cells for the expression of possible plasmid phenotypes revealed no differences between cells bearing pNZ500 and plasmidless cells.     

Linear plasmids pWR1A and pWR1B of the yeast Wingea robertsiae are associated with a killer phenotype

Wingea robertsiae CBS6693 (synonym Debaryomyces robertsiae) was previously reported to harbor two cryptic linear plasmids, designated pWR1A (8.3 kb) and pWR1B (14.6 kb). Reexamination of a putative plasmid encoded killer phenotype involved UV-curing as well as a highly sensitive toxin assay. Killer activities of concentrated culture supernatants prepared from both, a plasmid carrying and a cured plasmid-free strain, were examined in liquid media. Supernatants collected from plasmid carrying strains subjected to cultures of the plasmid-free derivative had clear concentration-dependent inhibitory effects, whereas plasmid harboring cells were not affected. Incubation at 65 degrees C for 10 min totally destroyed the toxin. Since supernatants prepared from the plasmid-free strain did not possess such killer activity and the presence of the plasmids confered resistance, toxin as well as immunity functions appear plasmid encoded. Beyond this, chitin affinity chromatography and Western blot analysis proved plasmid specific expression and secretion of a protein displaying similarities to the alpha-subunit of the Kluyveromyces lactis killer toxin. The assay applied in this study will most probably allow disclosure of other hidden killer phenomena, which may have escaped detection by conventionally applied plate assays.     

Bacteriocin production, plasmid content and plasmid location of enterocin P structural gene in enterococci isolated from food sources

AIMS: To characterize bacteriocin production, antimicrobial spectrum and plasmid content in bacteriocinogenic enterococci from foods. METHODS AND RESULTS: Bacteriocinogenic Enterococcus faecium (14 isolates) and Enterococcus faecalis (three isolates) showed two different patterns of bacteriocin production in liquid broth: exponential-phase and stationary-phase production. Bacteriocin concentrates from all enterococci were inactivated by trypsin, but seldom by heat (100-117 degrees C), extremes of pH (2.0 to 9.0) or reducing agents (such as dithiothreitol). All bacteriocin concentrates were active against Listeria innocua and Listeria monocytogenes, and most were also active against many Ent. faecalis and Ent. faecium isolates. Enterococci clustered in three main groups according to their plasmid content (which included plasmids from 2.0 to 53 kb). Several isolates from different foods showed almost identical plasmid profiles. The enterocin P structural gene (entP) was detected by hybridization on plasmids of c. 19, 26 and/or 35-38 kb. CONCLUSIONS: Enterococci from food show different patterns of bacteriocin production and different plasmid content in spite of carrying similar bacteriocin-encoding genes. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study provides information on the diversity of bacteriocinogenic enterococci from food sources carrying apparently similar enterocin genes.     

Replication and integration of a Vibrio cholerae cryptic plasmid linked to the CTX prophage

We identified a 4.7 kb cryptic plasmid in all ctxAB ⁺ Vibrio cholerae strains we tested. An isolate of the V. cholerae classical biotype strain O395 that harbours the cryptic plasmid at high copy number was found. Hybridization analysis demonstrated that sequences highly related or identical to this plasmid exist in all toxigenic strains of V. cholerae but were notably absent in all non-toxigenic environmental isolates that lacked the genes for toxin-co-regulated pili and the filamentous CTX prophage. Accordingly, we have named the cryptic plasmid pTLC for toxin-linked cryptic. The complete nucleotide sequence of pTLC from the high-copy-number isolate was determined. The largest open reading frame in the plasmid is predicted to encode a protein similar to the replication initiation protein (pII) of Escherichia coli F-specific filamentous phages. The nucleotide sequence of pTLC also facilitated the structural characterization of the DNA homologous to pTLC in other strains of V. cholerae . pTLC-related DNA exists in these strains as both low-copy-number, covalently closed circular DNA and tandemly duplicated, chromosomally integrated DNA. Remarkably, the chromosomally integrated form of pTLC is adjacent to the CTX prophage. The strain distribution, chromosomal location and DNA sequence of pTLC suggests that it may be a genetic element that plays some role in the biology of CTXφ, perhaps facilitating either its acquisition or its replication.     

Intragenic variation by site-specific recombination in the cryptic plasmid of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Cryptic plasmid DNA of Neisseria gonorrhoeae was found integrated into the gonococcal chromosome in both plasmid-bearing strains and plasmid-free strains. At several chromosomal locations only segments of the plasmid were found. However, in at least two strains an intact copy of the plasmid seemed to be present with the joints between the plasmid and the chromosomal DNA being located within the cppB gene of the cryptic plasmid. The cppB gene was shown to undergo a sequence-specific intragenic deletion. The deletion removed 54 base pairs, representing 18 amino acids, and did not affect the reading frame. It is proposed that the cryptic plasmid integrates into the chromosome and other gonococcal plasmids within this site-specific deletion region. Models for the site-specific recombination are presented.     

Identification of novel Clostridium perfringens type E strains that carry an iota toxin plasmid with a functional enterotoxin gene

Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) is a major virulence factor for human gastrointestinal diseases, such as food poisoning and antibiotic associated diarrhea. The CPE-encoding gene (cpe) can be chromosomal or plasmid-borne. Recent development of conventional PCR cpe-genotyping assays makes it possible to identify cpe location (chromosomal or plasmid) in type A isolates. Initial studies for developing cpe genotyping assays indicated that all cpe-positive strains isolated from sickened patients were typable by cpe-genotypes, but surveys of C. perfringens environmental strains or strains from feces of healthy people suggested that this assay might not be useful for some cpe-carrying type A isolates. In the current study, a pulsed-field gel electrophoresis Southern blot assay showed that four cpe-genotype untypable isolates carried their cpe gene on a plasmid of ～65 kb. Complete sequence analysis of the ～65 kb variant cpe-carrying plasmid revealed no intact IS elements and a disrupted cytosine methyltransferase (dcm) gene. More importantly, this plasmid contains a conjugative transfer region, a variant cpe gene and variant iota toxin genes. The toxin genes encoded by this plasmid are expressed based upon the results of RT-PCR assays. The ～65 kb plasmid is closely related to the pCPF4969 cpe plasmid of type A isolates. MLST analyses indicated these isolates belong to a unique cluster of C. perfringens. Overall, these isolates carrying a variant functional cpe gene and iota toxin genes represent unique type E strains.     

Structural organization of the Corynebacterium glutamicum plasmid pCG100.

pCG100, a 3 kb cryptic plasmid of Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13058, probably identical with pSR1 from C. glutamicum ATCC 19223, was characterized. The minimum region for autonomous replication was shown to be contained on a 1.9 kb BglII-NcoI fragment; a 380 bp HindIII-SphI fragment can replicate in the presence of the parental plasmid, which presumably provides a trans-acting replication factor. Derivatives of pCG100 are able to replicate in several Corynebacterium, Brevibacterium and Arthrobacter strains. pCG100 is compatible with pBL1, a cryptic plasmid of Brevibacterium lactofermentum. Shuttle plasmid vectors, containing the kanamycin-resistance gene from Tn903 or from Streptococcus faecalis as selectable markers and the AmpR, TetR or lacZ alpha genes for insertional inactivation, were constructed using the minimum replication fragment of pCG100.     

Conjugal properties of the Sinorhizobium meliloti plasmid mobilome

The biology and biochemistry of plasmid transfer in soil bacteria is currently under active investigation because of its central role in prokaryote adaptation and evolution. In this work, we examined the conjugal properties of the cryptic plasmids present in a collection of the N₂-fixing legume-symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti . The study was performed on 65 S. meliloti isolates recovered from 25 humic soils of Argentina, which were grouped into 22 plasmid-profile types [i.e. plasmid operational taxonomic units (OTUs)]. The cumulative Shannon index calculated for the observed plasmid profiles showed a clear saturation plateau, thus indicating an adequate representation of the S. meliloti plasmid-profile types in the isolates studied. The results show that isolates of nearly 14% of the plasmid OTUs hosted transmissible plasmids and that isolates of 29% of the plasmid OTUs were able to retransfer the previously characterized mobilizable-cryptic plasmid pSmeLPU88b to a third recipient strain. It is noteworthy that isolates belonging to 14% of the plasmid OTUs proved to be refractory to the entrance of the model plasmid pSmeLPU88b, suggesting either the presence of surface exclusion phenomena or the occurrence of restriction incompatibility with the incoming replicon. Incompatibility for replication between resident plasmids and plasmid pSmeLPU88b was observed in c . 20% of the OTUs. The results reported here reveal a widespread compatibility among the conjugal functions of the cryptic plasmids in S. meliloti , and this fact, together with the observed high proportion of existing donor genotypes, points to the extrachromosomal compartment of the species as being an extremely active plasmid mobilome.     

Characterization of a plasmid from Helicobacter pylori encoding a replication protein common to plasmids in Gram-positive bacteria

A 1.5 kb cryptic plasmid was isolated from Helicobacter pylori. Low-stringency hybridization analysis using this plasmid as a DNA probe revealed base sequence homology with other plasmids in this species. Nucleotide sequence analysis identified an open reading frame encoding a putative polypeptide of 25 kDa. This protein showed marked amino acid sequence similarity to replication-initiation proteins commonly found in small plasmids endogenous to Gram-positive bacteria which replicate by the 'rolling-circle' mechanism. Sequence motifs corresponding to the origins-of-replication consensus sequences were found on this cryptic plasmid. DNA and oligonucleotide probes to these plasmid replication sequences were used in hybridization analysis to identify similar sequences in other H. pylori plasmids. We believe this is the first plasmid isolated from a Gram-negative bacterium to show replication determinants characteristic of the 'rolling-circle' group of plasmids from Gram-positive bacteria. The cloned plasmid will be used to develop a shuttle-vector for H. pylori.     

Influence of lactococcal plasmid on the specific growth rate of host cells

AIMS: To investigate a lactococcal plasmid responsible for a reduction in growth rate of its host cell. METHODS AND RESULTS:Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis DRC1 carries a high number of plasmids. The DRC1 wild-type strain was found to grow more slowly than a plasmid-free derivative of DRC1. The plasmids extracted from DRC1 together with an indicator plasmid were cotransformed into the plasmid-free strain DRC1021. A 7.4-kb cryptic plasmid, designated pDR1-1, was found to significantly affect the maximum specific growth rate ( micro max) of the host cell. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis was carried out in order to detect the presence of pDR1-1 in the other L. lactis strains. The micro max of the single pDR1-1-positive strain was determined to be the same as that of DRC1. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: These results suggest that pDR1-1 (or a pDR1-1-like plasmid) is a critical factor in the reduction of the micro max of DRC1, and that its effect on the micro max is significantly greater than that of any other coexisting plasmid.     

Subcellular localization of proteins encoded by the phenotypically cryptic plasmid of Neisseria gonorrhoeae: biological evidence for outer membrane association of the cppB gene product

Almost all clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae harbour a plasmid of 4.2 kb with no known function. A genetic model based on the DNA sequence of the plasmid, with ten open reading frames, has been proposed by Korch et al., (1985). To address the question of the function of the encoded proteins, some of which are expressed when the plasmid is harboured by Escherichia coli, the subcellular locations of such proteins were investigated in minicells of Escherichia coli DS410. The protein CppB, earlier proposed to be a membrane-spanning polypeptide, was found associated with the outer membrane. Up to five other cryptic plasmid proteins were found to be localized in the periplasm.     

An amber replication mutant of F plasmid mapped in the minimal replication region

We have constructed a mini-F derivative (pKP1013) consisting of a 5.4 kilobase pairs (kb) segment (44.0 to 49.4 kb) of mini-F and fragments carrying the chloramphenicol and spectinomycin resistance genes that originated from the R plasmid NR1. The plasmid pKP1013 replicates autonomously in a manner indistinguishable from that of the parental mini-F. An amber mutant defective in replication has been isolated from pKP1013 by localized mutagenesis using N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. The virtual absence of incorporation of [3H]-thymidine into the plasmid DNA as well as the kinetics of appearance of plasmid-free segregants suggest that plasmid DNA synthesis is primarily affected under nonpermissive conditions. The amber mutation has been mapped within the 530 base pairs (bp) region that extends from 45.25 (XmaI) to 45.78 Kb (PstI) by extensive analysis of in vitro recombinants constructed from rep+ and rep- plasmids.     

Mechanisms of plasmid stable maintenance with special focus on plasmid addiction systems

The stable inheritance of bacterial plasmids is achieved by a number of different mechanisms. Among them are resolution of plasmid oligomers into monomers, active plasmid partitioning into dividing cells and selective killing of plasmid-free segregants. A special focus is given to the last mechanism. It involves a stable toxin and an unstable antidote. The antidotes neutralize their cognate toxins or prevent their synthesis. The different decay rates of the toxins and the antidotes underlie molecular mechanisms of toxin activation in plasmid-free cells. By eliminating of plasmid-free cells from the population of plasmid-bearing ones the toxin-antidote couples therefore act as plasmid addiction systems.