This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Beard, J P Articles by Bishop, S F Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Beard, J P Articles by Bishop, S F

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Bacteriol. 1975 September; 123(3): 916-920

Role of the cell surface in bacterial mating: requirement for intact mucopeptide in donors for the expression of surface exclusion in R+ strains of Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT

Two derivatives of the F-like R factor R1drd19 carrying mutually exclusive resistance determinants were used to study the role of the mucopeptide in the expression of conjugal functions. The use of metabolically active penicillin spheroplasts in R+ times R- matings had no effect on the ability of the cells to donate or accept a plasmid. However, in R+ times R+ matings it was found that surface exclusion was totally abolished if the donor, but not the recipient, was a spheroplast. This result implies that the traS gene, expressed by the excluding plasmid, is dependent for its action on an intact mucopeptide layer in the donor cell, and that this interaction is independent of the transfer ability of the excluding plasmid.