Gene transfer in Acinetobacter calcoaceticus NCIB8250

Abstract Filter matings of mutant strains of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus NCIB8250 showed that catabolic and auxotrophic markers were transferred in the absence of a conjugative plasmid. There were no specific 'donor' or 'recipient' strains. Deoxyribonuclease had no effect on the mating system. Some crosses appeared to be highly polarized towards certain parental strains whilst others showed a two-way transfer of genetic markers. There was a high frequency of transfer of the ability to utilize L(+)-mandelate from a mutant of A. calcoaceticus NCIB8250 to certain strains of a second wild-type, EBF65/65, but there was no evidence that the recombinants had acquired another plasmid. This process, whose mechanism is not clear, has some potential in the construction of novel strains but is not likely to be generally useful for mapping purposes and may even prove to be a hazard in the interpretation of results from other genetic techniques.