Complete nucleotide sequence of a cryptic plasmid from the marine bacterium Vibrio splendidus and identification of open reading frames

A 2.3-kb replication-proficient fragment was previously obtained from a cryptic plasmid (pPS41) isolated from a marine Vibrio splendidus isolate (P. A. Sobecky, T. J. Mincer, M. C. Chang, A. Toukdarian, and D. R. Helinski, 1998, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64, 2822-2830). Analysis of the complete nucleotide sequence of plasmid pPS41 revealed two additional open reading frames (ORFs). Analysis of ORF-1 revealed that its translated product has 125 amino acids with a predicted MW of 16,978 and ORF-2 encodes a putative protein of 151 amino acids with a predicted MW of 19,802. The ORF-2 encoded protein showed 31 to 35% sequence homology to proteins identified to have a role in plasmid mobilization. These proteins are encoded on plasmids found in Escherichia coli and Pasteurella multocida. Plasmid pPS41 could be mobilized by a conjugative plasmid at frequencies of 1 x 10(-2) to 2 x 10(-2).