Mobilization of the pACYC184 plasmid by hybrid pAS8-121 delta plasmids in Escherichia coli cells

The plasmid pACYC184 is shown to be mobilized for conjugal transfer in Escherichia coli cells by the deleted (Tn7-TcR) derivatives of the hybrid conjugative plasmid pAS8-121 (RP4-Co1E1). Both the mobilized and mobilizing plasmids are autonomously inherited by the recipient cells when the mobilizing plasmid carries single copy of IS8 (the plasmid pAS8-121 delta 16). Cointegrates pAS8-121 delta 16D:: ::pACYC184 are found in the recipient cells with pACYC184 being inserted between two repeats of IS8 if the derivate plasmid pAS8-121 delta 16D having the duplication of IS8 is used to mobilize pACYC184 for conjugal transfer. The insertion of pACYC184 between IS8 repeats in the plasmid pAS8-121 delta 16D eliminates the plasmid ability to be inserted with high frequency into the chromosome of the phototrophic bacterium R. sphaeroides 2R. The cointegrate pAS8-121 delta 16D:: pACYC184 is stable but can be resolved during the transformation deriving the plasmid pACYC184:: IS8. The latter may be used as a probe for isolation and analysis of IS8 DNA sequences and for constructing the vectors on the basis of pACYC184.