title: Isolation of enterocin SE-K4-encoding plasmid and a high enterocin SE-K4 producing strain of Enterococcus faecalis K-4.
abstract: Enterococcus faecalis K-4, which produces a class IIa bacteriocin, enterocin SE-K4, carries two plasmids, pEK4S (approximately 60 kb) and pEK4L (approximately 75 kb). Plasmid-curing experiments showed that pEK4S was involved in the production of and immunity to enterocin SE-K4 in strain K-4. A derivative strain, M6, with pEK4S produced a higher amount of enterocin SE-K4 than the parental strain K-4, although its growth rate was lower than that of parental strain K-4. Phenotypic changes in strain M6 are attributed to an increase in plasmid copy number.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Applied Microbial Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate Schools, Kyushu University, Hakozaki, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan. doi@agr.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Katsumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Doi
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.forename: Seong-Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwatake
authors.forename: Sadahiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohmomo
authors.forename: Seiya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogata