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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2000, p. 2269-2276, Vol. 182, No. 8
Laboratoire de Chimie Bactérienne,
Institut de Biologie Structurale et de Microbiologie, C.N.R.S.,
13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France
Received 22 November 1999/Accepted 21 January 2000
To construct Thiobacillus ferrooxidans mutants by
marker exchange mutagenesis, a genetic transfer system is required. The transfer of broad-host-range plasmids belonging to the incompatibility groups IncQ (pKT240 and pJRD215), IncP (pJB3Km1), and IncW (pUFR034) from Escherichia coli to two private T. ferrooxidans strains (BRGM1 and Tf-49) and to two collection
strains (ATCC 33020 and ATCC 19859) by conjugation was analyzed. To
knock out the T. ferrooxidans recA gene, a mobilizable
suicide plasmid carrying the ATCC 33020 recA gene disrupted
by a kanamycin resistance gene was transferred from E. coli
to T. ferrooxidans ATCC 33020 by conjugation under the best
conditions determined. The two kanamycin-resistant clones, which have
retained the kanamycin-resistant phenotype after growth for several
generations in nonselective medium, were shown to have the kanamycin
resistance gene inserted within the recA gene, indicating
that the recA::
0021-9193/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Construction and Characterization of a
recA Mutant of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans by
Marker Exchange Mutagenesis
-Km mutated allele was
transferred from the suicide plasmid to the chromosome by homologous
recombination. These mutants exhibited a slightly reduced growth rate
and an increased sensitivity to UV and
irradiation compared to the wild-type strain. However, the T. ferrooxidans recA mutants
are less sensitive to these physical DNA-damaging agents than the recA mutants described in other bacterial species,
suggesting that RecA plays a minor role in DNA repair in T. ferrooxidans.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire de
Chimie Bactérienne, Institut de Biologie Structurale et de
Microbiologie, C.N.R.S., 31 chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille
Cedex 20, France. Phone: (33) 491 164 146. Fax: (33) 491 718 914. E-mail: bonnefoy{at}ibsm.cnrs-mrs.fr.
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