Construction and Use of a System for Studying the Integration of Bacteroides Conjugative Transposons

Cooper, Andrew Joel

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Description

Title

Construction and Use of a System for Studying the Integration of Bacteroides Conjugative Transposons

Author(s)

Cooper, Andrew Joel

Issue Date

1998

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Salyers, Abigail A.

Department of Study

Microbiology

Discipline

Microbiology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

Biology, Molecular

Language

eng

Abstract

In general, very little is known about the way in which Bacteroides conjugative transposons integrate into their chromosomal target sites, or what the nature of these sites are. In the past, this question has been very difficult to address due to the large size of the Bacteroides conjugative transposons. In this study, a miniature version (mini-element) of the Bacteroides conjugative transposon $\rm Tc\sp{r}$ ERL has been constructed. This mini-element contains the joined ends from the circular transfer intermediate of the full size $\rm Tc\sp{r}$ ERL element. The mini-element integrates in Bacteroides recipients containing the native $\rm Tc\sp{r}$ ERL element using integrase functions provided in trans. In addition to the miniature conjugative transposon, an essential component of this mini-element system is a Bacteroides recipient strain deficient in homologous recombination. For this reason, a Bacteroides recA strain was constructed and the RecA independence of conjugative transposition was demonstrated. The minielement system described here will serve as a prototype for additional studies seeking to determine the integration mechanism of the Bacteroides conjugative transposons.

Graduation Semester

1998

Type of Resource

text

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