Genetic analysis of the role of the transfer gene, traN, of the F and R100-1 plasmids in mating pair stabilization during conjugation.

ABSTRACT: Mating pair stabilization occurs during conjugative DNA transfer whereby the donor and recipient cells form a tight junction which requires pili as well as TraN and TraG in the donor cell. The role of the outer membrane protein, TraN, during conjugative transfer was examined by introduction of a chloramphenicol resistance cassette into the traN gene on an F plasmid derivative, pOX38, to produce pOX38N1::CAT. pOX38N1::CAT was greatly reduced in its ability to transfer DNA, indicating that TraN plays a greater role in conjugation than previously thought. F and R100-1 traN were capable of complementing pOX38N1::CAT transfer equally well when wild-type recipients were used. F traN, but not R100-1 traN, supported a much lower level of transfer when there was an ompA mutation or lipopolysacchari

SUBMITTER: Klimke WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC107396 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature