Open AccessAmplification of the Tetracycline Resistance Determinant of pAMα1 in Enterococcus faecalis Requires a Site-Specific Recombination Event Involving Relaxase
Author(s) -
María Victoria Francia,
Don B. Clewell
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.652
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1067-8832
pISSN - 0021-9193
DOI - 10.1128/jb.184.18.5187-5193.2002
Subject(s) - biology , tetracycline , enterococcus faecalis , plasmid , recombination , genetics , site specific recombination , dna , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , escherichia coli , recombinase , antibiotics
The small multicopy plasmid pAMalpha1 (9.75 kb) encoding tetracycline resistance in Enterococcus faecalis is known to generate tandem repeats of a 4.1-kb segment carrying tet(L) when cells are grown extensively in the presence of tetracycline. Here we show that the initial (rate-limiting) step involves a site-specific recombination event involving plasmid-encoded relaxase activity acting at two recombination sequences (RS1 and RS2) that flank the tet determinant. We also present the complete nucleotide sequence of pAMalpha1.