Conjugative Type 4 secretion system of a novel large plasmid from the chemoautotroph Tetrathiobacter kashmirensis and construction of shuttle vectors for Alcaligenaceae.

ABSTRACT: Tetrathiobacter spp. and other members of the Alcaligenaceae are metabolically versatile and environmentally significant. A novel, approximately 60-kb conjugative plasmid, pBTK445, from the sulfur chemolithoautotroph Tetrathiobacter kashmirensis, was identified and characterized. This plasmid exists at a low copy number of 2 to 3 per host chromosome. The portion of pBTK445 sequenced so far ( approximately 25 kb) harbors genes putatively involved in replication, transfer functions, partition, and UV damage repair. A 1,373-bp region was identified as the minimal replicon. This region contains a repA gene encoding a protein belonging to the RPA (replication protein A) superfamily and an upstream, iteron-based oriV. A contiguous 11-gene cluster homologous to various type 4 secretion systems (T

SUBMITTER: Dam B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2704820 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature