pIN32: a Cointegrate Plasmid with IncHI2 and IncFII Components

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Abstract
Summary: An Enterobacter cloacae strain isolated from the faeces of a child with diarrhoea in Indonesia contained a transferable 216 MDa plasmid, pIN32, exhibiting IncHI2 phenotypic characters, including temperature sensitivity of transfer and the expression of H serotype pili at a repressed level. A derivative plasmid (pIN32-1), which had lost the IncHI2 phenotype, and contained only 60 MDa of the original replicon, was obtained after mating at 37 °C. It was IncFII, showed regions of homology with plasmid R100, determined IncFII serotype conjugative pili constitutively and was transfer-derepressed. After overnight growth at 37 °C in non-selective medium, pIN32 gave rise to another derivative, pIN32-2 (size 184·3 MDa), which retained the IncHI2 phenotype and several other pIN32 characters.