Bacterial plasmids

The other principal vector is a plasmid—bacterial DNA that is not part of the main circular DNA chromosome of the bacterium. This DNA, which usually... 

The synthetic and plasmid DNAs are mixed and join their sticky ends spontaneously. They are covalently bound together by DNA ligases, when the resulting hybrid plasmid is inserted into bacterial cells. Dilute calcium chloride solutions render the bacterial membranes permeable and allow the passage of ONA into the cells. 

Plasmid-mediated bacterial inactivation of chloramphenicol and thiamphenicol can potentially lead to three products, the 3- 0-acetyl (3), 1-0-acetyl (4), and 1,3-di-O-acetyl (5) derivatives as shown in Figure 1. 

Resistance to Tetracyclines. The tetracyclines stiU provide inexpensive and effective treatment for several microbial infections, but the emergence of acquired resistance to this class of antibiotic has limited their clinical usehilness. Studies to define the molecular basis of resistance are underway so that derivatives having improved antibacterial spectra and less susceptibiUty to bacterial resistance may be developed. Tetracyclines are antibiotics of choice for relatively few human infections encountered in daily clinical practice (104), largely as a result of the emergence of acquired tetracycline-resistance among clinically important bacteria (88,105,106). Acquired resistance occurs when resistant strains emerge from previously sensitive bacterial populations by acquisition of resistance genes which usually reside in plasmids and/or transposons (88,106,107). Furthermore, resistance deterrninants contained in transposons spread to, and become estabUshed in, diverse bacterial species (106). 

The bacterial palsmid presumably responds to arsenite (As(III)), but the fact of reducing the arsenate to arsenite has been established, reflecting in slower plasmid respond. It permits us to make arsenic speciation using simple and rapid assay. 

Bacterial cells may harbor one or many copies of a particular plasmid, depending on the nature of the plasmid replicator. That is, plasmids are classified as high copy number or low copy number. The copy number of most genetically engineered plasmids is high (200 or so), but some are lower. 

Cohen, S. N., Chang, A. C. Y, Boyer, H. W., and Helling, R. B., 1973. Construction of biologically functional bacterial plasmids in vitro. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 70 3240 — 3244. The classic paper on the construction of chimeric plasmids. 

Overexpression of apoaequorin (Inouye et al., 1989, 1991). To produce a large quantity of apoaequorin, an apoaequorin expression plasmid piP-HE containing the signal peptide coding sequence of the outer membrane protein A (ompA) of E. coli (Fig. 4.1.12) was constructed and expressed in E. coli. The expressed apoaequorin was secreted into the periplasmic space of bacterial cells and culture medium. The cleaving of ompA took place during secretion thus the... 

Genetic material can be transferred horizontally between bacterial cells either as free DNA by transformation or as plasmid DNA via conjugational... 

Acetyl-CoA is also utilized as a cofactor to modify chloramphenicol by O-acetyltranferases (CATs). These enzymes have been found in many different bacterial genera and are usually plasmid encoded in clinical isolates. Furthermore, streptogramin type A antibiotics are acetylatedby Vat enzymes that occur on plasmids in staphylococci and enterococci. 

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are efflux pumps that derive the energy needed for drug extrusion from the hydrolysis of ATP. Bacterial ABC antibiotic efflux transporter encoded on plasmids is a significant... 

Following several cycles of mutagenesis using the E. coli XLl-Red mutator strain and transformation of the plasmid library into E. coli, a total of about 150 000 bacterial colonies were assayed for activity using a colorimetric prescreen [100]. The best mutant Asn336Ser showed a 47-fold increase in activity and a 5.8-fold enhancement... 

Recombinant DNA technology can also be used to design genes that encode for proteins with desired features [34]. The gene can be incorporated into a plasmid, which is then used to transform a bacterial host such as Escherichia coli. Finally, the production of the desired amino acid polymer is performed by the host with a precisely defined sequence and near absolute monodispersity [29, 35]. 

Bacterial plasmids are small, circular, duplex DNA molecules whose natural function is to confer antibiotic resistance to the host cell. Plasmids have several properties that make them extremely useful as cloning vectors. They exist as single or multiple copies within the bacterium and replicate independently from the bacterial DNA. The complete DNA sequence of many plasmids is known hence, the precise location of restriction enzyme... 

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