title: Staphylococcus aureus multiresistance plasmid pSK41: analysis of the replication region, initiator protein binding and antisense RNA regulation.
abstract: The vast majority of large staphylococcal plasmids characterized to date appear to possess an evolutionarily common replication system, which has clearly had a major impact on the evolution of antimicrobial resistant staphylococci worldwide. Related systems have also been found in plasmids from other Gram-positive genera, including enterococci, streptococci and bacilli. The 46.4 kb plasmid pSK41 is the prototype of a family of conjugative staphylococcal multiresistance plasmids. The replication region of pSK41 encodes a protein product, Rep, which was shown to be essential for replication; mutations that truncated Rep could be complemented in trans. Rep was found to bind in vitro to four tandem repeat sequences located centrally within the rep coding region. An A + T-rich inverted repeat sequence upstream of rep was required for efficient replication, whereas no sequences downstream of rep were necessary. An antisense countertranscript, RNAI, encoded upstream of rep was identified and transcriptional start points for both RNAI and the rep-mRNA were defined.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: Ronald A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Skurray
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Firth
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018432:Drug Resistance, Multiple / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000235:genetics*; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D018741:Replication Origin / Q000235:genetics*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016372:RNA, Antisense; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase