Molecular analysis of the 21-kb bacteriocin-encoding plasmid pEF1 from Enterococcus faecium 6T1a.
The complete 21,344-bp DNA sequence of the bacteriocin-encoding plasmid pEF1 from Enterococcus faecium 6T1a was determined. Thirty-four putative open reading frames which could code for proteins longer than 42 amino acids were found. Those included the structural genes encoding for the previously described bacteriocins enterocin I and J (also named as enterocins L50A and L50B). After comparison to sequences in public databases, analysis of the gene organization of pEF1 suggests a modular structure with three different functional domains: the replication region, the bacteriocin region and the mobilization plus UV-resistance region. This genetic mosaic structure most probably evolved through recombination events promoted by transposable elements. The hypothesis that the bacteriocin cluster on pEF1 could act as a functional plasmid stabilization module in E. faecium 6T1a is discussed.
Ruiz-Barba
José Luis
JL
Departamento de Biotecnología de Alimentos, Instituto de la Grasa, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Avda. Padre Garcia Tejero, 4; Aptdo.1078, 41012 Sevilla, Spain. jlruiz@cica.es
Floriano
Belén
B
Maldonado-Barragán
Antonio
A
Jiménez-Díaz
Rufino
R
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003086:Bacteriocin Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D016984:Enterococcus faecium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid