Plasmids of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6701

Abstract Plasmids were obtained from Synechocystis 6701 using a lysis method that employed a hemicellulase digestion procedure. Eight major bands were observed in the initial preparation. Four of the smaller plasmids were isolated using preparative agarose electrophoresis gels and identified by restriction endonuclease analysis. Chromosomal DNA was screened with 15 restriction enzymes and 6 ( Eco RI, Sst I, Hpa I, Bst EII, Acc I, and Bgl II) were effective. Analysis of DNA fragments from plasmids pSCY 1–4 indicated that each plasmid was unique and that their approximate sizes were 5, 7.5, 13.5 and 15 kb, respectively. Digestion of pSCY 1 and pSCY 4 with Bgl II produced DNA fragments that may be used to construct a conjugation vector for this unicellular cyanobacterium.