Bacteriocin and antibiotic resistance plasmids in Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A number of plasmids were isolated as covalently closed circular DNA from strains of B. cereus and B. subtilis. From 12 out of 15 strains of B. cereus, plasmids could be isolated. Most of the B cereus strains contained 2 or more plasmids. Their MW ranged from 1.6 .times. 106-105 .times. 106. Bacteriocin production could be attributed to a 45 .times. 106 dalton plasmid (pBC7) from B. cereus DSM 336, and tetracycline resistance to a 2.8 .times. 106 plasmid (pBC16) from B. cereus GP7. Two streptomycin-resistant strains of B. subtilis harbored plasmids of 5.2 .times. 106 and 9 .times. 106, respectively, which were not correlated with the antibiotic resistance. The plasmid carrying resistance to tetracycline, pBC16, which was originally isolated from B. cereus, could be subsequently transformed in B. subtilis, where it is stably maintained. [These plasmids are studied for their potential use as vectors for gene cloning].