Autotransmissible resident plasmid of Rhizobium meliloti

Summary A resident plasmid of wild-type strains of Rhizobium meliloti of 59.6 megadaltons has been shown to be transferred at a high frequency to cured strains of this bacterial species. This plasmid, named pEZ1, that confers phage-sensitivity to cells carrying it is also transmissible to Escherichia coli and from it to cured R. meliloti strains.