Killing of Escherichia coli cells modulated by components of the stability system ParD of plasmid R1

✍ Scribed by Bravo, Alicia ;Ortega, Sagrario ;de Torrontegui, Gertrudis ;Díaz, Ramón

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 663 KB
• Volume: 215
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0026-8925
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00331316

✦ Synopsis

The proteins P10 and P12 have been shown to be gene products of a new stability system, ParD, of plasmid R1. It is now shown that an R1 miniplasmid, pAB112, carrying a trans-complementable amber mutation in the gene of the P10 protein, is lethal for the host in the absence of suppression. This lethal effect is suppressed in a supF background and also by deletions in pAB112 that affect the gene of the P12 protein. These data indicate that the P12 protein has a lethal effect on the host and that this effect is neutralized by the P10 protein. The possibility that the stabilization conferred by the ParD system could be due to a counterselection, mediated by P12, of cells that lose the plasmid at cell division, is discussed.