Characterization of the minimum replicon of the broad-host-range plasmid pTF-FC2 and similarity between pTF-FC2 and the IncQ plasmids

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Abstract
The nucleotide sequence of a 3,202-base-pair fragment which contained the minimum region required for replication of the broad-host-range plasmid, pTF-FC2, has been determined. At least five open reading frames and a region that affected the host range were identified. Proteins corresponding in size and location to four of the five open reading frames were produced in an in vitro transcription-translation system. The predicted amino acid sequences of two of the proteins were aligned with those of the RepA and RepC proteins of the broad-host-range IncQ plasmid RSF1010 and found to be 43 and 60% homologous, respectively. Despite this similarity, neither the RepA nor the RepC protein of the IncQ plasmid was able to complement mutations in the pTF-FC2 repA and repC genes. Although there was a considerable amount of DNA homology between pTF-FC2 and RSF1010 in the oriV region and the region coding for the RepA and RepC proteins, no other homology between the two plasmids at either the DNA or protein level could be detected.