Summary
This paper describes a complementation test system for replication-defective S. aureus penicillinase plasmids in which the incompatibility barrier has been overcome by the isolation of an incompatibility-defective (Inc−) plasmid. This plasmid appears to be stably and irreversibly integrated into the host chromosome as attempts to restore it to its original independent state have been unsuccessful. The Inc− plasmid was able to complement the thermosensitive replication defects of Seg− plasmids belonging to the same original incompatibility class but was unable to complement ones belonging to a different incompatibility class. Positive and negative phenotypic complementation tests were confirmed at the molecular level by isotopic labeling of plasmid-specific DNA molecules.
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Communicated by H. Ozeki
The results presented here were included by L. Wyman in her Ph.D. dissertation in the Dept. of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, June, 1971.
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Wyman, L., Novick, R.P. Studies on plasmid replication. Molec. Gen. Genet. 135, 149–161 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264782
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264782