title: A novel phage genome integrated into a plasmid in Bacillus thuringiensis strain AF101.
abstract: Bacillus thuringiensis strain AF101 possesses a single plasmid (pAF101) with a molecular size of 42 MDa (69 kb). During plasmid curing experiments in strain AF101, we found that a phage (J7W-1) was induced by ethidium bromide treatment. Moreover, the phage genome (48 kb) hybridized only with pAF101 on a Southern blot of the DNA of a cleared lysate prepared from strain AF101. Comparison of the restriction patterns of pAF101 and J7W-1 phage DNA revealed that pAF101 contains not only the entire phage DNA but also a plasmid-specific DNA region. These results indicate that the J7W-1 genome has been stably integrated into pAF101 in strain AF101. Integration of the J7W-1 genome into a plasmid was also observed after phage infection of the type strain of B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Control, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aizawa
mesh_terms: D001413:Bacillus thuringiensis / Q000235:genetics*; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004996:Ethidium / Q000494:pharmacology; D005814:Genes, Viral; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010957:Plasmids; D014775:Virus Activation / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D004996:Ethidium