Summary
We have characterized a number of P1Cm phages which contain the resistance genes to chloramphenicol and fusidic acid as IS1-flanked Cm transposons. Restriction cleavage and electron microscopic analysis showed that these Cm transposons were carried as monomers (M) or tandem dimers (D). Lysogens of P1Cm (D) are more resistant to chloramphenicol than those of its P1Cm (M) presumably as a result of an increased gene dosage. Amplification of the Cm transposons to tandem multimers was frequently observed in P1Cm (D) lysogens grown in the presence of high concentrations of chloramphenicol or fusidic acid and was also detected in P1Cm (M) lysogens. The degree of amplification varied in different clones which suggests that cells containing spontaneously amplified Cm transposons were selected by high doses of the antibiotics. The dimeric as well as the amplified Cm transposons carried in P1Cm lysogens grown in the absence of chloramphenicol displayed considerable stability. Mechanisms for the amplification of the IS1-flanked transposons are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson, R.P., Roth, J.R. Tandem genetic duplications in phage and bacteria. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 31, 473–505 (1977)
Arber, W., Iida, S., Jütte, H., Caspers, P., Meyer, J., Hänni, C.: Rearrangements of genetic material in Escherichia coli as observed on the bacteriophage P1 plasmid. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 43, 1197–1208 (1978)
Bächi, B., Arber, W.: Physical mapping of Bg1II, BamHI, EcoRI, HindIII, and PstI restriction fragments of bacteriophage P1 DNA. Mol. Gen. Genet. 153, 311–324 (1977)
Beck, E., Sommer, R., Auerswald, E.A., Kurz, C., Zink, B., Osterburg, G., Schaller, H., Sugimoto, K., Sugisaki, H., Okamoto, T., Takanami, M.: Nucleotide sequence of bacteriophage fd DNA. Nucleic Acid Res 5, 4495–4503 (1978)
Chandler, M., Boy de la Tour, E., Willems, D., Caro, L.: Some properties of the chloramphenicol resistance transposon Tn9. Mol. Gen. Genet. 176, 221–231 (1979)
Chandler, M., Silver, L., Lane, D., Caro, L.: Properties of an autonomous r-determinant from R100.1. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 43, 1223–1231 (1978)
Clewell, D.B., Yagi, Y.: Amplification of the tetracycline resistance determinant on plasmid pAMα1 in Streptococcus faecalis. In: DNA insertion elements, plasmids and episomes (A.I. Bukhari, J.A. Shapiro, S.L. Adhya, eds.), pp. 235–246. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 1977
Clewell, D.B., Yagi, Y., Bauer, B.: Plasmid-determined tetracycline resistance in Streptococcus faecalis: Evidence for gene amplification during growth in presence of tetracycline. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72, 1720–1724 (1975)
Datta, N., Hedges, R.W., Becker, D., Davies, J.: Plasmid-determined fusidic acid resistance in the enterobacteriaceae. J. Gen. Microbiol. 83, 191–196 (1974)
Davidson, N., Szybalski, W.: Physical and chemical characteristics of lambda DNA. In: The bacteriophage lambda (A.D. Hershey, ed.), pp. 45–82. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 1971
Davis, R.W., Simon, M., Davidson, N.: Electron microscope heteroduplex methods for mapping regions of base sequence homology in nucleic acids. In: Methods in enzymology (L. Grossman, K. Moldave, eds.), Vol. 21, pp. 413–428. New York: Academic Press 1971
Espejo, R.T., Canelo, E.S., Sinsheimer, R.L.: DNA of bacteriophage PM2: A closed circular double-stranded molecule. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 63, 1164–1168 (1969)
Gottesman, M.M., Rosner, J.L.: Acquisition of a determinant for chloramphenicol resistance by coliphage lambda. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 72, 5041–5045 (1975)
Grindley, N.D.F.: Physical mapping of IS1 by restriction endonucleases. In: DNA insertion elements, plasmids and episomes (A.I. Bukhari, J.A. Shapiro, S.L. Adhya, eds.), pp. 115–123. New York: Spring Harbor Laboratory 1977
Hashimoto, H., Rownd, R.H.: Transition of the R factor NR1 in Proteus mirabilis: Level of drug resistance of nontransitioned and transitioned cells. J. Bacteriol. 123, 56–68 (1975)
Hu, S., Ohtsubo, E., Davidson, N., Saedler, H.: Electron microscope heteroduplex studies of sequence relations among bacterial plasmids: Identification and mapping of the insertion sequences IS1 and IS2 in F and R plasmids. J. Bacteriol. 122, 764–775 (1975)
Iida, S., Arber, W.: Plaque forming specialized transducing phage P1: Isolation of P1CmSmSu, a precursor of P1Cm. Mol. Gen. Genet. 153, 259–269 (1977)
Iida, S., Arber, W.: Multiple physical differences in the genome structure of functionally related bacteriophages P1 and P7. Mol. Gen. Genet. 173, 249–261 (1979)
Iida, S., Meyer, J., Arber, W.: The insertion element IS1 is a natural constituent of coliphage P1 DNA. Plasmid 1, 357–365 (1978a)
Iida, S., Meyer, J., Arber, W.: Involvement of IS1 in the formation of hybrids between phage P1 and the R plasmid NR1. Experientia 34, 943 (1978b) (Abstr.)
Kondo, E., Mitsuhashi, S.: Drug resistance of enteric bacteria. IV. Active transducing bacteriophage P1 CM produced by the combination of R-factor with bacteriophage P1. J. Bacteriol. 88, 1266–1276 (1964)
Lane, D., Chandler, M.: Mapping of the drug resistance genes carried by the r-determinant of the R100.1 plasmid. Mol. Gen. Genet. 157, 17–23 (1977)
MacHattie, L.A., Jackowski, J.B.: Physical structure and deletion effects of the chloramphenicol resistance element Tn9 in phage lambda. In: DNA insertion elements, plasmids, and episomes (A.I. Bukhari, J.A. Shapiro, S.L. Adhya, eds.), pp. 219–228. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 1977
Mattes, R., Burkardt, H.J., Schmitt, R.: Repetition of tetracycline resistance determinant genes on R plasmid pRSD1 in Escherichia coli. Mol. Gen. Genet. 168, 173–184 (1979)
Meyer, J., Iida, S., Arber, W.: Amplification of ISI-mediated CM-transposons carried by coliphage P1. Experientia. 34, 948 (1978) (Abstr.)
Miki, T., Easton, A.M., Rownd, R.H.: Mapping of the resistance genes of the R plasmid NR1. Mol. Gen. Genet. 158, 217–224 (1978)
Mise, K., Arber, W.: Plaque-forming, transducing bacteriophage P1 derivatives and their behaviour in lysogenic conditions. Virology 69, 191–205 (1976)
Ohtsubo, H., Ohtsubo, E.: Nucleotide sequence of an insertion element, IS1. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 615–619 (1978)
Ptashne, K., Cohen, S.N.: Occurrence of insertion sequence (IS) regions on plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid as direct and inverted nucleotide sequence duplications. J. Bacteriol. 122, 776–781 (1975)
Rosner, J.L.: Formation, induction and curing of bacteriophage P1 lysogens. Virology 48, 679–689 (1972)
Rownd, R.H., Mickel, S.: Dissociation and reassociation of RTF and r-determinants of the R-factor NR1 in Proteus mirabilis. Nature New Biol. 234, 40–43 (1971)
Tanaka, N., Cramer, J.H., Rownd, R.H. EcoRI restriction endonuclease map of the composite R plasmid NR1. J. Bacteriol. 127, 619–636 (1976)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by J. Schell
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meyer, J., Iida, S. Amplification of chloramphenicol resistance transposons carried by phage P1Cm in Escherichia coli . Molec. Gen. Genet. 176, 209–219 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00273215
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00273215