Autonomous replication of plasmids in Mucor transformants

Recircularization and autonomous replication of a sheared R-factor DNA segment in Escherichia coli transformants.

Controlled shearing of R-factor DNA leads to formation of fragments carrying an antibiotic resistance gene present on, but not expressed by, the intact R-factor. Transformation of CaCl(2)-treated E. coli by such fragments yields an autonomously replicating tetracycline-resistance plasmid (Tc6-5) that contains only a small fraction of the genome of the parent R-factor, and lacks both its fertili...

Replication of Plasmids

Replication of Staphylococcal Resistance Plasmids

The currently widespread and increasing prevalence of resistant bacterial pathogens is a significant medical problem. In clinical strains of staphylococci, the genetic determinants that confer resistance to antimicrobial agents are often located on mobile elements, such as plasmids. Many of these resistance plasmids are capable of horizontal transmission to other bacteria in their surroundings,...

Replication of staphylococcal multiresistance plasmids.

Based on structural and functional properties, three groups of large staphylococcal multiresistance plasmids have been recognized, viz., the pSK1 family, pSK41-like conjugative plasmids, and beta-lactamase-heavy-metal resistance plasmids. Here we describe an analysis of the replication functions of a representative of each of these plasmid groups. The replication initiation genes from the Staph...

Rolling-circle replication of bacterial plasmids.

Many bacterial plasmids replicate by a rolling-circle (RC) mechanism. Their replication properties have many similarities to as well as significant differences from those of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) coliphages, which also replicate by an RC mechanism. Studies on a large number of RC plasmids have revealed that they fall into several families based on homology in their initiator proteins and ...