Isolation and characterization of a plasmid from Lactobacillus fermentum conferring erythromycin resistance.
Lactobacillus fermentum is a lactic acid bacterial species commonly found in the digestive tracts of pigs and rodents and also present in man. We characterized a 5.7-kb plasmid, pLEM3, conferring erythromycin resistance, which was isolated from a porcine strain of L. fermentum. Plasmid pLEM3 established efficiently in L. fermentum, conferred high-level erythromycin resistance (MIC > 1 mg/ml), and was segregationally stable. A deletion derivative of pLEM3, called pLEM5, was constructed and found to be as genetically stable as the parent. A multiple cloning site was inserted into pLEM5, generating plasmid pLEM7. Nucleotide sequence determination of pLEM5 revealed similarities with known genes. The replicon itself is a member of the pC194 family of rolling circle plasmids. The region responsible for erythromycin resistance was 98.2% identical to the erm gene of conjugative transposon Tn1545.
Fons
M
M
Unité d'Ecologie et de Physiologie du Système Digestif, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Jouy-en-Josas, France.
Hégé
T
T
Ladiré
M
M
Raibaud
P
P
Ducluzeau
R
R
Maguin
E
E
D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics*; D004917:Erythromycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D013552:Swine
D004917:Erythromycin