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M F Hynes

Publications and source records attributed to M F Hynes.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Direct selection for curing and deletion of Rhizobium plasmids using transposons carrying the Bacillus subtilis sacB gene.

We have constructed derivatives of the transposon Tn5 carrying the mob site (oriT) of plasmid RP4, and an nptI-sacB-sacR cassette [Ried and Collmer, Gene 57 (1987) 239-246]. The mob site, in conjunction with the antibiotic-resistance markers carried on the transposons, allows identification of transposon inserts in cryptic plasmids by mobilisation to other strains. The sacB-sacR genes allow direct selection for the loss or curing of plasmids, because only strains which no longer contain an active sacB gene are able to grow on media containing sucrose. We have tested these transposons in four strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum and two strains of Rhizobium meliloti, and have been able to demonstrate curing of several large cryptic plasmids, and generation of large deletions in many other plasmids. This method has enabled us to show that the R. leguminosarum plasmids pRL12JI and pR1eVF39f carry auxotrophic markers, and that the plasmid pR1eVF39c carries genes which affect colony morphology.

Bacillus subtilis↗
PubMed1987

Incompatibility between a Rhizobium Sym plasmid and a Ri plasmid of Agrobacterium.

The symbiotic plasmid of Rhizobium trifolii G1008 was mobilized to other Rhizobium strains and to Agrobacterium using Tn5-Mob, a transposon that confers on a host replicon the ability to be mobilized in trans by RP4. Incompatibility was observed between pSymG1008 and the hairy-root-inducing plasmid pRi1855. Agarose gel electrophoresis revealed that pRi1855 was eliminated as an autonomous element in the presence of pSymG1008 and its absence was correlated with loss of the ability to induce hairy root disease. This indicates a close ancestral relationship between a Rhizobium symbiotic plasmid and a plant pathogenic plasmid of Agrobacterium. pSymG1008 and pRi1855 can be assigned to the IncRh-3 incompatibility group. Furthermore, pSymG1008 was mobilized at low frequency to R. phaseoli 51E and the transconjugants isolated had lost the indigenous Sym plasmid and the ability to nodulate beans.

Escherichia coli↗
PubMed1985

The development of plasmid-free strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens by using incompatibility with a Rhizobium meliloti plasmid to eliminate pAtC58.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains LBA275 and LBA290 were cured of their cryptic plasmid pAtC58 by the introduction of the Rhizobium meliloti plasmid pRme41a, which is incompatible with pAtC58. pRme41a and pTiC58, the resident Ti plasmid of LBA275, were subsequently eliminated by growth at supraoptimal temperature (40 degrees C). The resulting plasmid-free Agrobacterium strains, UBAPF1 and UBAPF2, have proved extremely useful for the study of Rhizobium plasmids. The loss of the cryptic plasmid pAtC58 has no effect on the tumor-forming ability of the Agrobacterium strains; when the Ti plasmid is present, normal tumors are formed on Kalanchoe daigremontiana.

DNA, Bacterial↗