Kinetics of conjugative transfer: a study of the plasmid pXO16 from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis

Plasmid
L AndrupL Boe

Abstract

The aggregation-mediated conjugation system of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis, encoded by the 200-kb plasmid pXO16, is highly potent in transferring itself and efficient in mobilizing other nonconjugative plasmids. The present study reveals some salient features of this conjugation system. Our observations can be summarized as follows: (i) The conjugative transfer takes about 3(1/2) to 4 min. For a 200-kb plasmid this corresponds to about 1 kb per second. (ii) The ability to transfer the plasmid seems to be evenly distributed among the donors. (iii) Functionally, the mating complex was found to consist of one donor and one recipient cell, even though aggregates comprising thousands of interconnected cells are formed. (iv) Having donated the plasmid, the donor needs a "period of recovery" of about 10 min before it can redonate the plasmid. (v) Secondary transfer, i.e., transfer from newly formed transconjugants, is delayed about 40 min. This maturation time exceeds the generation time, and it may indicate that to display donor activity, a surface protein (the aggregation substance) has to be uniformly incorporated into the cell wall. Lastly, we found that when the experiments were sufficiently short and when the recip...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Oct 23, 2009·Astrobiology·Elise BeulsJacques Mahillon
Nov 27, 2010·Nucleic Acids Research·Lubomír DostálJoel F Schildbach
Feb 3, 2009·Journal of Bacteriology·Sophie TimmeryJacques Mahillon
Jul 11, 2006·Journal of Clinical Microbiology·Vicki A LunaJacqueline Cattani
Mar 3, 2010·PloS One·Mukta M WatveMilind G Watve
Nov 28, 2009·Journal of Theoretical Biology·K R PhilipsenH Madsen
Oct 20, 2009·Journal of Theoretical Biology·Xue ZhongStephen M Krone
Dec 9, 2009·Journal of Contaminant Hydrology·A MassoudiehT R Ginn
May 17, 2008·Plasmid·Marcin FilutowiczRavi Shankar
Sep 26, 2006·International Journal of Food Microbiology·Géraldine A Van der AuweraJacques Mahillon
Feb 25, 2014·Biophysical Journal·Peter D FreeseIrene A Chen
May 1, 2003·FEMS Microbiology Ecology·Cristina LagidoJim I Prosser
Jun 28, 2020·Applied and Environmental Microbiology·Brendan Headd, Scott A Bradford
Sep 1, 2018·Nano Letters·Cécile FeuillieYves F Dufrêne

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