Loss of plasmids containing cloned inserts coding for novobiocin resistance or novobiocin sensitivity in Haemophilus influenzae

Abstract

Plasmids pNov1 and pNov1s , coding for resistance and sensitivity to novobiocin, respectively, were readily lost from wild-type Haemophilus influenzae but retained in a strain lacking an inducible defective prophage. The plasmid loss could be partly or wholly eliminated by a low-copy-number mutation in the plasmid or by the presence of certain antibiotic resistance markers in the host chromosome. Release of both phage HP1c1 , measured by plaque assay, and defective phage, measured by electron microscopy, was increased when the plasmids were present. The frequency of recombination between pNov1 and the chromosome, causing the plasmid to be converted to pNov1s , could under some circumstances be decreased from the normal 60 to 70% to below 10% by the presence of a kanamycin resistance marker in the chromosome. This suggested that a gene product coded for by the plasmid, the expression of which was affected by the kanamycin resistance marker, was responsible for the high recombination frequency. Evidence was obtained from in vitro experiments that the gene product was a gyrase.