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Heteroduplex analysis of P-plasmid evolution: The role of insertion and deletion of transposable elements

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Summary

DNA homology of thirteen R-plasmids of group P was examined by heteroduplex analysis and Southern blotting. Ten of these plasmids showed homology for extensive regions including all genes reported as necessary for replication and conjugational transfer. The differences between these plasmids could be explained by gain or loss of DNA sequences, many of which have been shown to be transposons.

Of the other three plasmids, two showed unambiguous homology with the typical P-plasmids but this homology was imperfect, implying that these plasmids are products of lines which have evolved separately for long periods. One plasmid failed to produce heteroduplexes with the reference P plasmid.

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Author notes

  1. Jan Leemans

    Present address: Centro de investigaciones sobre fijación de nitrógeno (UNAM), Apdo. Postal 565-A, Cuernavaca, México

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorium voor Genetica, Rijksuniversiteit Gent, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    Raimundo Villarroel, Ria Maenhaut, Marc Van Montagu & Jeff Schell

  2. Plant Genetic Systems, 22 Jozef Plateau-straat, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    Robert W. Hedges

  3. Laboratorium voor Genetische Virologie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, B-1640, St.-Genesius-Rode, Belgium

    Jan Leemans & Marc Van Montagu

  4. Laboratorium voor Histologie, Rijksuniversiteit Gent, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    Gilbert Engler

  5. Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung, D-5000, Köln 30, Federal Republic of Germany

    Jeff Schell

Authors
  1. Raimundo Villarroel
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  2. Robert W. Hedges
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  3. Ria Maenhaut
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  4. Jan Leemans
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  5. Gilbert Engler
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  6. Marc Van Montagu
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  7. Jeff Schell
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Communicated by G. Melchers

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Villarroel, R., Hedges, R.W., Maenhaut, R. et al. Heteroduplex analysis of P-plasmid evolution: The role of insertion and deletion of transposable elements. Molec. Gen. Genet. 189, 390–399 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00325900

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00325900

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