Beta-lactamase-specifying plasmids isolated from Neisseria gonorrhoeae have retained an intact right part of a Tn3-like transposon.
In three beta-lactamase-producing strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, ampicillin resistance is due to the presence of a 7.4-kilobase plasmid. Heteroduplex analysis has shown that the R plasmid contains a 1.6-kilobase segment homologous to the right part (the region coding for the beta-lactamase) of the Tn3-like transposon Tn2301 the 1.6-kilobase DNA segment is not transposable, but it can give rise to a functional transposon, when linked to the left part of TN2301. This provides strong evidence that the R plasmids of N. gonorrhoeae are deletion derivatives of a plasmid that contained an entire TN3-like transposon.
D000667:Ampicillin / Q000494:pharmacology; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D009344:Neisseria gonorrhoeae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D011815:R Factors; D001618:beta-Lactamases / Q000235:genetics*
D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D000667:Ampicillin; D001618:beta-Lactamases