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Are single‐stranded circles intermediates in plasmid DNA replication?
Author(s) -
Riele H.,
Michel B.,
Ehrlich S.D.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04257.x
Subject(s) - plasmid , pbr322 , biology , dna , dna replication , bacillus subtilis , escherichia coli , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene , bacteria
Plasmid pC194 exists as circular double‐stranded and single‐stranded DNA in Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. We report here that the plasmid pHV33, composed of pBR322 and pC194, exists as double‐ and single‐stranded DNA in Escherichia coli, provided that the replication functions of pC194 are intact. Single‐stranded pHV33 DNA is converted to double‐stranded DNA by complementary strand synthesis probably initiated at rriB, a primosome assembly site present on pBR322. The efficiency of complementary strand synthesis affects the double‐stranded copy number, which suggests that single‐stranded DNA is a plasmid replication intermediate.