Molecular characterization of a phage-encoded resistance system in Lactococcus lactis.

ABSTRACT: A specific fragment of the genome of Tuc2009, a temperate lactococcal bacteriophage, was shown to contain several open reading frames, whose deduced protein products exhibited similarities to proteins known to be involved in DNA replication and modification. In this way, a putative single-stranded binding protein, replisome organizer protein, topoisomerase I, and a methylase were identified. When the genetic information coding for the putative replisome organizer protein of Tuc2009, Rep2009, was supplied on a high-copy-number plasmid vector, it was shown to confer a phage-encoded resistance (Per) phenotype on its lactococcal host UC509.9. The presence of this recombinant plasmid was shown to cause a marked reduction in Tuc2009 DNA replication, suggesting that the observed phage resistance

SUBMITTER: McGrath S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC91272 | biostudies-literature | 1999 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature