Irit Edelman

Penicillinase plasmids of Staphylococcus aureus: Restriction-deletion maps

Abstract The derivation of physical-genetic maps of two Staphylococcus aureus penicillinase plasmids—pI258 [28.2 kilobases (kb)] and pII147 (32.6 kb)—is described. The maps are based on data obtained by recombination, deletion, restriction endonuclease digestion, molecular cloning, and insertional inactivation. Evidence is presented for the existence of at least three separate operons transcribed in different directions. Data are presented to show that these plasmids are closely related physically as well as genetically to several others with which they can recombine. Physical mapping studies of one recombinant have helped to pinpoint structural differences between the two parental plasmids.

Small Staphylococcus aureus plasmids are transduced as linear multimers that are formed and resolved by replicative processes.

The molecular processes involved in the transduction of small staphylococcal plasmids by a generalized transducing phage, phi 11, have been analysed. The plasmids are transduced in the form of linear concatemers containing only plasmid DNA; plasmid-initiated replication is required for their generation but additive interplasmid recombination is not. Concatemers are probably generated by the interaction of one or more phage functions with replicating plasmid DNA. Insertion of any restriction fragment of the phage into the plasmid causes an approximately 10(5)-fold increase in transduction frequency, regardless of the size or genetic content of the fragment. The resulting transducing particles (Hft particles) contain mostly pure linear concatemers composed of tandem repeats of the plasmid::phage chimera, and their production requires active plasmid-initiated replication. The high frequency of transduction is a consequence of homologous recombination between the linear chimeric and phage concatemers, which has the effect of introducing an efficient pac site into the former. Following introduction into lysogenic recipient bacteria, the transducing DNA is first converted to the supercoiled form, then processed to monomers by a mechanism that requires the active participation of the plasmid replication system.

Comparative sequence and functional analysis of pT181 and pC221, cognate plasmid replicons from Staphylococcus aureus

SummaryThe nucleotide sequence of pC221, a 4.6 kb Staphylococcus aureus plasmid is presented. The replication region of the plsmid is identified and compared with the corresponding region of pT181, a compatible but related plasmid. Both plasmids encode trans-active replicon-specific initiator proteins, RepC for pT181 and RepD for pC221. Plasmid replication rate is controlled by regulation of the rate of synthesis of the inititator protein by means of inhibitory 5′ countertranscripts. Key elements of the control system are closely conserved between the two plasmids whereas less critical elements show extensive divergence. Overall architecture is also conserved, suggesting functional parallelism.The replication origin for both plasmids is contained within the N-terminal region of the initiator protein coding sequence; the two coding sequences are highly homologous but have two important areas of divergence, one within the origin region, the other near the C-terminus. In vivo recombinants between the two plasmids isolated previously (Iordanescu 1979) have crossover points within the initiator gene, between the two divergent regions. The recombinant plasmids have hybrid initiator proteins and are defective for replication, requiring the simulaneous presence of the parental plasmid from which their origin is derived. They are able to complement replication-defective mutants of the other parental plasmid, suggesting that the recognition specificity of the hybrid initiator protein resides in its C-terminal end and that the specific recognition site for the protein corresponds to the divergent region within the origin.

Involvement of the cell envelope in plasmid maintenance: plasmid curing during the regeneration of protoplasts.

Abstract Observations are described that demonstrate elimination of certain plasmids in up to 80% of Staphylococcus aureus cells during the formation and regeneration of lysostaphin-induced protoplasts of these organisms. All of nine small (≤3 megadaltons (Mdal)) plasmids studied showed the protoplast-dependent elimination to a greater or lesser extent; none of three larger (≤15 Mdal) plasmids showed the effect. This difference in behavior was not due to molecular weight per se, as curing was not shown by one of the large plasmids with a deletion of two-thirds of its genome but was shown by a chimera consisting of a 3-Mdal plasmid with a 5.7-Mdal DNA insertion. The curing effect was not related to copy number, as all of the curable plasmids have substantially greater copy numbers than the noncurable ones. Physical loss of plasmid DNA from the protoplasts could not be demonstrated; replication of plasmids in protoplasts appeared normal; but most of the plasmid-positive regenerant colonies consisted of mixed populations of plasmid-positive and negative organisms with a very wide range of composition. On the basis of these observations, we conclude that plasmid elimination occurs during the several protoplast divisions that occur before cell wall regeneration is completed and that it is due to a disruption of the plasmid partition system as a consequence of removal of the cell wall. If so, then the noncurable plasmids must be partitioned by a mechanism that is different from that by which the curable ones are normally partitioned.

Staphylococcal plasmid cointegrates are formed by host- and phage-mediated general rec systems that act on short regions of homology

SummaryCointegrates involving pairs of compatible staphylococcal plasmids can be isolated either by co-selection during transduction (Novick et al. 1981) or by selection for survival at the restrictive temperature of a thermosensitive, replication defective plasmid in the presence of a stable one. Cointegrates are formed by recombination at two specific sites, RSA and RSB. RSB is present on each of six plasmids analyzed, namely pT181, pE194, pC194, pS194, pUB110, and pSN2, and RSA is present on two of these, pT181 and pE194. In this communication, it is shown that the RS represent short regions of homology (RSA is some 70 bp in length and RSB is about 30) embedded in largely non-homologous contexts and that the crossovers take place within these homologous regions. The pT181 and pE194 RSA sequences contain several mismatches which permit the localization of the crossover events to several different sites within the overall RS segment. The recombination system involved is therefore general (homology-specific) rather than site-specific (sequence-specific). Mismatches included within the crossover region are always corrected to the pT181 configuration. The cointegrates are therefore formed by a relatively efficient general rec system that recognizes short regions of homology and gives rise to Holliday junctions that probably involve very short heteroduplex overlaps. The sequence results are consistent with asymmetric single-strand invasion of a contralateral gap with nucleotide conversion by copying. It is noted that RSB has substantial homology with the par sequence of plasmid pSC101, suggesting that it may be involved in plasmid partitioning.

Tn554: Isolation and characterization of plasmid insertions

Abstract Tn554, a transposon in Staphylococcus aureus that carries determinants of spectinomycin resistance and inducible macrolide-lincosamide resistance, is characterized by a highly efficient transposition, exceptional site specificity for insertion, and inhibition of transposition by a copy of the transposon inserted at its preferred chromosomal site. In this communication we describe the characteristics of a number of rare, secondary-site insertions of Tn554 into several related penicillinase plasmids. These plasmid insertions display considerable variation in the frequencies with which they can act as transposon donors, as well as in the frequencies at which they undergo apparently precise excision. Transposition from the plasmid transposon donors is ordinarily a duplicative process and these subsequent transposition events always return Tn554 to its preferred site in the S. aureus chromosome; such derivatives are indistinguishable from the primary chromosomal insertion from which they were originally derived. We also report an unusual relationship between Tn554 and the transducing phage, φ11, in which Tn554 is frequently transferred independently of its plasmid carrier. We suggest that the bacteriophage may play an important role in the mobility of Tn554, in addition to the usual transduction mechanism, in a process that we have referred to as “hitchhiking.”

Transduction-related cointegrate formation between staphylococcal plasmids: A new type of site-specific recombination

Abstract Small R plasmids are frequently cotransduced by staphylococcal transducing phages. Most cotransductants contain independent plasmids indistinguishable from those of the donor strain; occasionally recombinational exchanges can be demonstrated including the formation of stable cointegrates that appear to contain all of the genomes of the two starting plasmids. These cointegrates do not dissociate at a detectable frequency upon subculture of the host strain or upon further transduction. Examination of a series of these cointegrates derived by recombination between various pairs of plasmids has revealed the existence of a new type of site-specific recombination. Nineteen different cointegrates involving five different plasmids were studied by restriction endonuclease analysis and electron microscopic examination of heteroduplexes. To the limits of resolution of these techniques, it can be concluded that each plasmid contains one or more specific sites that is used for the formation of cointegrates with the other plasmids. In addition, the cointegrates are orientation specific as well as site specific so that the recombination process resembles that of prophage integration more than that of transposon insertion. Strikingly, in cases where cointegrates between one plasmid, A, and two or more others (e.g., B and C) have been isolated, the same site on A is used for cointegrate formation with both B and C; moreover, B and C also form cointegrates with each other, using the same site and orientation with which both recombine with A. The formation of cointegrates probably involves identical sequences of ≤ 100 nucleotides and is not demonstrably related to overall homology.

Tn554: SITE SPECIFICITY OF INSERTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SECONDARY SITE INSERTIONS

ABSTRACT Tn554 is a transposon of Staphylococcus aureus that specifies resistance to erythromycin and spectino-mycin. It has a highly preferred chromosomal site to which it transposes with equal efficiency in rec and rec + hosts. When transferred to a recipient strain lacking Tn554, its transposition frequency approaches 100%. In the presence of a second copy of Tn554, transposition is reduced 1000-fold, even when the resident copy is at a 2° chromosomal site unlinked to the 1° site. Several insertions of Tn554 into plasmids have been obtained; these differ from one another with respect to the frequency with which Tn554 transposes to the 1° site: unlike other trans-posable elements, the sequences surrounding the Tn554 ends appear to play a major role in determining the frequency of sequential transposition.