Relationships between cotransducible plasmids in Staphylococcus aureus.
Cotransduction of two or even three plasmids was observed when a Staphylococcus aureus strain, carrying five distinct, compatible plasmids, was used as donor. An active host recombination system did not seem to be indispensable for plasmid cotransduction, since RecA+ and RecA- donors gave similar cotransduction frequencies. Analysis of plasmids carried by cotransductant clones demonstrated that a genetic interaction can take place between cotransduced plasmids, leading to new plasmids. Some of the properties of these new plasmids are discussed. Another set of experiments tested the ability of a cotransducible plasmid to allow a significant degree of multiplication of a temperature-sensitive plasmid at restrictive temperature. In an attempt to explain the results obtained, a working hypothesis suggesting a transient and reversible association of cotransducible plasmids is presented.
D005111:Extrachromosomal Inheritance; D010957:Plasmids; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus; D013696:Temperature; D014161:Transduction, Genetic