Plasmids associated with a phagelike particle and with a satellite inclusion in Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis

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Abstract
Variants of Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis were isolated using a 42.degree. C plasmid curing method. Those that were missing the large toxic crystalline inclusion still possessed in their sporulated cells a small inclusion similar to the satellite inclusion of the wild type. These crystal-minus but satellite-positive variants, like the wild type, produced sporulation-dependent phage-like particles; variants lacking both the crystal and the satellite did not. These latter strains lacked both a 75 and a 68 megadalton plasmid present in the wild type. However, a crystal-positive, satellite-minus strain possessing the 75 but lacking the 68 megadalton plasmid produced the phage-like particles. Examination of recipient strains that were initially devoid of crystal, satellite, and plasmids revealed the satellite and phage-like producing characteristics could have been cotransformed with the 68 megadalton plasmid. Likewise the toxic crystal and phage-like particle producing characters could have been cotransformed into a recipient which had acquired the 75 megadalton plasmids already known to be associated with the synthesis of the crystal inclusion. Thus the gene coding for the satellite inclusion appears to reside in the 68 megadalton plasmid, while that coding for the phage-like particle can reside in either the 68 or 75 megadalton plasmid.

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