Structural organization of pLP1, a cryptic plasmid from Lactobacillus plantarum CCM 1904.
To construct shuttle vectors based on an endogenous replicon, we isolated a small cryptic plasmid (pLP1) from Lactobacillus plantarum CCM 1904. The nucleotide sequence (2093 bp, 38.25 GC mol%) revealed one major open reading frame encoding for a 317 amino acid protein (Rep). Comparisons with proteins encoded by other Gram-positive bacteria plasmids strongly suggest that the protein encoded by pLP1 has a replicative role. The presence of a consensus sequence including a tyrosine residue known to be the replication protein binding site to the DNA (in phage phi X174) strengthens this hypothesis. The DNA sequence contains also a sequence similar to the pC194 origin nick sequence, which initiates the plasmid replication at the plus origin, characteristic of plasmids which replicate following a rolling circle mechanism via single-stranded DNA intermediates. A set of 13 direct repeats of 17 bp could be involved in the expression of the incompatibility or in the copy number control as in the other plasmids. A promoter sequence located at the rep 5' region has been identified and is functional in Bacillus subtilis.
Bouia
A
A
Laboratoire de microbiologie, Université Louis-Pasteur, Strasbourg, France.
Bringel
F
F
Frey
L
L
Kammerer
B
B
Belarbi
A
A
Guyonvarch
A
A
Hubert
J C
JC
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D003090:Coliphages / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D007256:Information Systems; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D010957:Plasmids; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014169:Transformation, Bacterial
D005656:Fungal Proteins; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D011506:Proteins; C051237:REP protein, yeast plasmid