Efficient transposition in Mycobacteria: construction of Mycobacterium smegmatis insertional mutant libraries

Plasmid, pCG79, obtained from Tn611 transposon insertion into pCG63, a temperature-sensitive plasmid isolated from an Escherichia coli mycobacterial shuttle vector with pAL5000 and pUC18 replicons, provided several insertional mutations in Mycobacterium smegmatis. This is the first time when straightforward transposition into a mycobacterium was utilized to build mycobacterial insertional mutant libraries. Preferential insertion regions were not identified.