The use of bacteriophages for differentiating plasmids of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Molecular characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteriophages: identification and characterization of the novel virus B86

We have characterized a new phage, B86, of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from nature. It is a temperate, uv-inducible, generalized transducing phage. To determine the relatedness of this phage to other characterized P. aeruginosa phages, DNA homology studies were carried out. P. aeruginosa phages have previously been grouped by immunological cross-reactivity. Our studies confirm this classification by demonstrating that phages of different class share little or no DNA homology. Based on homology studies as well as cross-immunity to superinfection, B86 is related to other class B phages and is most homologous with phage B39. The virion morphology of these two phages is quite different, however, as are the restriction enzyme digestion patterns of their genomes with several restriction enzymes. Wild-type B86 is subject to the host-controlled restriction-modification systems of P. aeruginosa PAO and PAT. Virulent mutants of this phage are not restricted by these same restriction-modification systems.

Properties of IncP-2 plasmids of Pseudomonas spp

Thirty IncP-2 R plasmids from isolates of Pseudomonas spp. of diverse geographical origins were examined for the production of resistance properties. All the plasmids determined resistance to tellurite and all inhibited the propagation of certain DNA phages, although several patterns of phage inhibition were detected. Of the 30 plasmids, 29 determined resistance to streptomycin, 28 determined resistance to mercuric ion, and 24 determined resistance to sulfonamide. Resistance to other antibiotics, to compounds of arsenic, boron, or chromium, and to UV irradiation was less common. The degradative plasmid CAM also belonged to this group. When CAM was introduced into recipients carrying an IncP-2 R plasmid, recombinant plasmids were often formed in which antibiotic resistance and the ability to grow on camphor were transferred together to further recipients or were lost together in a strain in which IncP-2 plasmids were unstable. Such hybrid plasmid formation was rec dependent. CAM and other IncP-2 plasmids that determine UV light resistance demonstrated UV-enhanced, nonpolarized transfer of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa chromosome. By agarose gel electrophoresis, all IncP-2 R plasmids and CAM were ca. 300 X 10(6) in molecular weight.

Relationship between R and FP plasmids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The plasmid FP110 possessing chromosome mobilizing ability for Pseudomonas aeruginosa but carrying no determinants for antibiotic resistance, is found to be related by incompatibility, entry exclusion, and other criteria to the independently isolated R plasmids R18-1 and R56Be which carry resistance determinants for carbenicillin. The frequency of FP plasmid appearance in clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa suggests the possibility that they may be a source of R plasmids in this bacterium.

Genetic mapping of the region c of the bacteriophage G101 (Pseudomonas aeruginosa)

Morphological mutants of the c type of the bacteriophage G101 (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) were isolated after mutagenesis with hydroxylamine. Complementation analysis of 27 c mutants showed that the c region is formed by at least two genes. Two types of c mutants were obtained. One of them (cI26) behaves analogously to a mutant in the gene controlling the synthesis of the repressor of phage lambda. The second type of the c mutants (cII1, cII18) specifies a gene having probably an auxiliary function in the "c" region. According to the low frequency of recombination between the genes cI26 and c II18 (1.37 recombination units), these genes responsible for lysogenization are localized in a short region of the chromosome.

An explanation for the apparent host specificity of Pseudomonas plasmid R91 expression

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain 9169 has been reported to contain a plasmid that expresses resistance to carbenicillin (Cb), kanamycin (Km), and tetracycline (Tc) in Escherichia coli but resistance only to Cb in certain Pseudomonas recipients. The triply resistant plasmid in E. coli belonged to incompatibility (Inc) group P or P-1, whereas the singly resistant plasmid in P. aeruginosa was compatible with IncP-1 plasmids and other plasmids of established Inc specificity but incompatible with plasmid pSR1 that is here used to define a new Pseudomonas Inc group P-10. Additional physical and genetic studies showed that strain 9169 contained not one but two plasmids: IncP-1 plasmid R91a, determining the Cb Km Tc phenotype, and IncP-10 plasmid R91, determining Cb that differed in molecular weight and in EcoRI and BamHI restriction endonuclease recognition sites. Plasmid multiplicity rather than host effects on plasmid gene expression can account for differences in the phenotype of strain 9169 transconjugants to E. coli and P. aeruginosa.

Transfer-deficient mutants of the narrow-host-range plasmid R91-5 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Three methods have been successful in the isolation of transfer-deficient mutants of the narrow-host-range R plasmid R91-5 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: (i) selection for donor-specific phage resistance; (ii) direct screening after mutagenic treatment with either ethyl methane sulfonate or N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine; (iii) in vitro mutagenesis of plasmid DNA by hydroxylamine followed by transformation and direct screening. The majority of transfer-deficient mutants were donor-specific phage resistant, supporting the view that sex pili and other surface components are essential for conjugal transfer (since the phages PRD1 and PR4 adsorb to these sites). Some of the transfer-deficient mutants were also unable to inhibit the replication of phage G101 or lost entry exclusion or both phenotypes. The ability to revert these pleiotropic mutants to wild type implicates the latter two functions in R91-5 transfer. Suppressor mutations in P. aeruginosa enabled the detection of suppressor-sensitive, transfer-deficient mutants. Such mutants should prove useful in conjugational complementation tests for the identification of the transfer cistrons of R91-5.

Incompatibility and bacteriophage inhibition properties of N-1, a plasmid belonging to the H2 incompatibility group

N-1, a plasmid isolated from a strain of Shigella flexneri in Japan more than 10 years ago, mediates the phage inhibition phenotype which has recently been found to be characteristic of plasmids of the H2 incompatibility group. Using the criteria of phage inhibition, surface exclusion and incompatibility, the N-1 plasmid is shown to be closely related to H2 plasmids isolated from non-typhoid salmonella and distantly related to H1 plasmids isolated from Salmonella typhi. Plasmids of other incompatibility groups did not show the H2 type of phage inhibition.

Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa derepressed R-plasmids

A genetic study of conjugal transmissibility of two R-plasmids was undertaken in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Conjugally derepressed mutants of the R-plasmids were isolated, and examination of 11 independent mutants revealed that 10 were recessive to the wild-type transfer repressor, whereas 1 mutant was cis dominant. Cross-repression was observed between the two R-plasmids, suggesting that they have functionally equivalent systems for regulating the expression of tra loci. The derepressed R-plasmid mutants exhibited several characteristics, in addition to derepressed transfer, that were not expressed by the parental plasmids. These included sensitivity to certain donor-specific phages, inhibition of multiplication of a transducing phage, and, in the one case examined, a high degree of entry exclusion. The coexpression of these different functions suggests that their respective genetic loci are controlled by the same regulatory system as that of tra, or else that they are part of the tra complex.

Characterization of a translocation unit encoding resistance to mercuric ions that occurs on a nonconjugative plasmid in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The nonconjugative plasmid, pVS1, has a molecular weight of 18.5 X 10(6) and confers resistance to sulfonamides and to mercuric ions. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO, the transfer can be mobilized by a variety of conjugative plasmids, and the process does not require a functional recombination system in the donor. Hybrid plasmids that arise by the relocation of the mer gene onto the mobilizing plasmid can be isolated readily, and, as far as can be determined, these hybrids retain the genome of the conjugative plasmid in toto. The relocation of mer occurs by a Rec-independent process and leads to a constant increase (about 6 X 10(6) daltons) in the size of the recipient plasmid. This suggests that the mer gene in pVS1 is located on a translocation unit, designated Tn501, of a molecular weight of about 6 X 10(6). The translocation of Tn501 into RP1 is not usually associated with the loss of any known plasmid-mediated function, but transfer-defective or tetracycline-sensitive derivatives do occur at frequencies of about 4%, whereas carbenicillin-sensitive or kanamycin-sensitive variants arise with a frequency of about 0.2% each. It seems therefore that the integration of Tn501 can occur at any one of a minimum of five sites in RP1.

Superinfection inhibition by prophage B3 of some R plasmids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The prophage of the phage B3 ofP. aeruginosaexhibits superinfection inhibition towards certain R plasmids such as R18-1 or R18-3 as shown by a severe depression (c. 10−6) in the conjugal transfer of these plasmids into B3 lysogens. The transfer of other R plasmids into such lysogens and the transfer of R18-1 or R18-3 into bacteria lysogenic for unrelated phages was unimpaired. R18-1 or R18-3 was non-transducible into B3 lysogens although transducible into non-lysogens. The interaction appeared to be reciprocally expressed since B3 lysogenization of bacteria R+for R18-1 or R18-3 was also reduced. Consistent with the failure of co-existence of the prophage and the plasmids was the observation that when the transconjugants from the cross R18-1 donor ×B3 lysogenic recipients were tested, transfer-deficient plasmid derivatives were encountered (about 40%). Other transconjugants were cured of prophage, or carried mutant B3 prophage with lytic, lysogenization or superinfection inhibition functions impaired.

The properties of hybrids formed between the P-group plasmid RP1 and various plasmids from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

R38, R931-1, and R933 are conjugative plasmids derived from strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. They confer resistance to mercuric ions (Hg-r), and do not tranfer from P. aeruginosa to Escherichia coli at detectable frequencies. Hybrids between each of these plasmids and the P-group plasmid, RP1, have been detected among the rare Hg-r transconjugants arising from matings of P. aeruginosa PAO donors (RP1 + R+) and E. coli K12 recipients. Two independently isolated hybrid plasmids from each of the three mating combinations have been studied. All were found to confer the entire marker phenotype of RP1, but only the Hg-r phenotype of their second parent. Moreover, all were larger than RP1 but comprised only two groups of sizes; those increased by about 14 x 10(6) daltons (the RP1/R38 hybrids), and those increased by about 30 x 10(6) daltons (the RP1/R931-1 and RP1/R933 hybrids). The hybrid plasmids were all too large to be transduced intact by phage F116L, but tranduction of fragments was possible. Thus, the determinants for both carbenicillin-resistance (Cb-r) (from RP1) and mercuric-ion-resistance could be "rescued" by recipients that already carried an RP1-like plasmid and were recombination-proficient. A molecular analysis of the plasmids recovered from such transductants suggested that each of the parental hybrids was comprised of an entire RP1 genome into which a fragment of heterologous DNA had been inserted. In similar experiments in which the recipient carried a derivative of R931-1, the Hg-r but not the Cb-r determinant could be rescued. This suggested that R38, R931-1, and R933 shared sufficient homology in the region of the mer gene for recombination to occur between them. The reason for the inability to rescue the Cb-r determinant was also investigated.

Translocation of a discrete piece of deoxyribonucleic acid carrying an amp gene between replicons in Eschericha coli

A number of well-characterized R plasmids (R1drd 19. K1.R100-1, R46, R55-1, R64-11, R388, and R751) will mobilize an integrated amp gene from the chromosome of Escherichia coli K-12. R391 will not act in this way. The process involves recombination, and in each case the mobilizing plasmid acquires an additional piece of deoxyribonucleic acid of molecular weight 4 X 10(6). Acquisition of this deoxyribonucleic acid may impair the transfer properties of the recombinant plasmid in some cases. The process will occur in a recA background.

A molecular analysis of transductional marker rescue involving P-group plasmids in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The molecular properties of the P-group plasmids R26, R527 and R18-18- (a carbenicillin-sensitive derivative of R18) have been compared with those of RP1. R18-18 and RPI have a MW about 38 X 10(6) daltons, and R26 and R527 of 52 X 10(6) daltons (determined from contour lengths). All three plasmids have a bouyant density similar to that of RPI (1.719 g/cm3, 60% GN. From their molecular and phenotypic similarities, these plasmids probably represent two pairs of identical or closely similar elements. Resistant bacteria are not recovered following F116L-mediated transduction of R26 (or R527), and this correlates with the plasmids' larger size (phage genome=40 X 10(6) daltons). Fragments of R26 are, however, transduced and their resistance determinants may be "rescued" by recombination if the recipient harbours R1818. Such events are accompanied by an increase in the size of the recipient plasmid from 38 X 10(6) to 52 X 10(6) daltons following inheritance of the resistance determinants Sm Su Gm Hg, but not Cb. Thus, Sm Su Gm Hg are encoded in a DNA segment of MW about 14 X 10(6) daltons which apparently has no homologous region on R18-18. Since a piece of DNA of this MW also corresponds to the difference in size between R26 and R18-18, it is possible that the former is derived from an RPI-like element which has acquired these additional resistance determinants.