Effects of genes exerting growth inhibition and plasmid stability on plasmid maintenance.
Plasmid stabilization mediated by the parA+ and parB+ genes of the R1 plasmid and the ccd+ and sop+ genes of the F plasmid was tested on a mini-R1 plasmid and a pBR322 plasmid derivative. The mini-R1 plasmid is thought to be unstably inherited owing to a low copy number and to random segregation of the plasmid at cell division, whereas cells harboring the pBR322 derivative used in this work are lost through competition with plasmid-free cells, mainly as a result of the shorter generation time of cells without plasmids. The pBR322 derivative carries a fusion between part of the atp operon of Escherichia coli and the bacteriophage lambda pR promoter, and the cI857 repressor gene. The insertion of sop+ from the F plasmid or parB+ from the R1 plasmid reduced the loss frequency by a factor of 10(3) for the pBR322 derivative and by at least a factor of 10(2) for the mini-R1 plasmid. Insertion of parA+ from the R1 plasmid decreased the loss frequency of the pBR322 derivative by a factor of 10 and that of the mini-R1 plasmid by a factor of 50. When ccd+ from the F plasmid was inserted, the loss frequency of the pBR322 derivative was decreased by a factor of 10, but it had only a marginal effect on the stability of the mini-R1 plasmid. In no case was any significant structural instability of the plasmids observed.
Boe
L
L
Department of Microbiology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby-Copenhagen.
Gerdes
K
K
Molin
S
S
D002455:Cell Division; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003470:Culture Media; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D005144:F Factor; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D010957:Plasmids; D011815:R Factors
D003470:Culture Media