Search

Abstract: The complete nucleotide sequence of the cryptic plasmid pRS4 (3550 bp) from Pediococcus pentosaceus RS4 was determined. Sequence analysis revealed the presence of three open reading frames (ORFs). The putative protein coded by ORF 1 showed 93% identity with the mobilization protein of Lactobacillus casei plasmid pLC88 and 94% identity with a sequenced fragment of the mobilization protein of P. damnosus plasmid pF8801, suggesting a common origin for these three mobilization proteins. The putative protein coded by ORF 2 showed 92% identity with the replication protein of L. plantarum plasmid pWCFS101, a plasmid that replicates via the rolling circle (RC) mechanism, suggesting a similar replication mechanism for pRS4. Supporting this hypothesis, a putative double strand origin (dso) and a region with palindromic sequences that could function as single strand origin (sso), were detected in pRS4. A function could not be assigned to ORF 3. Since ORF 1 exhibits high identity with L. casei plasmid pLC88 but lower identity (58%) with other Lactobacillus plasmids, and ORF 2 exhibits high identity with the L. plantarum plasmid pWCFS101 but lower identity (55–58%) with other Lactobacillus plasmids (including pLC88), two independent cassettes, from different sources, seem to be involved in the structure of pRS4. Plasmids derived from pRS4 containing the chloramphenicol resistance gene were successfully electrotransformed in L. plantarum, L. casei, P. pentosaceus, and Pediococcus acidilactici, suggesting that pRS4 could be used as a cloning vector for lactic acid bacteria. To our knowledge pRS4 is the first RC-replicating plasmid of P. pentosaceus that has been completely sequenced and used as cloning vector. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A chimeric plasmid, pRS7Rep (6.1 kb), was constructed using the replication region of pRS7, a large plasmid from Oenococcus oeni , and pEM64, a plasmid derived from pIJ2925 and containing a gene for resistance to chloramphenicol. pRS7Rep is a shuttle vector that replicates in Escherichia coli using its pIJ2925 component and in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) using the replication region of pRS7. High levels of transformants per µg of DNA were obtained by electroporation of pRS7Rep into Pediococcus acidilactici (1.5 × 10 7 ), Lactobacillus plantarum (5.7 × 10 5 ), Lactobacillus casei (2.3 × 10 5 ), Leuconostoc citreum (2.7 × 10 5 ), and Enterococcus faecalis (2.4 × 10 5 ). A preliminary optimisation of the technical conditions of electrotransformation showed that P. acidilactici and L. plantarum are better transformed at a later exponential phase of growth, whereas L. casei requires the early exponential phase for better electrotransformation efficiency. pRS7Rep contains single restriction sites useful for cloning purposes, Bam HI, Xba I, Sal I, Hinc II, Sph I and Pst I, and was maintained at an acceptable rate (>50%) over 100 generations without selective pressure in L. plantarum , but was less stable in L. casei and P. acidilactici . The ability of pRS7Rep to accept and express other genes was assessed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the replication region of a plasmid from O. oeni has been used to generate a cloning vector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]