High frequency transduction of R-factor encoded gentamicin resistance by bacteriophage P1Cm.

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Abstract
No transposition of plasmid-coded gentamicin resistance from > 50 different R plasmids onto a deletion derivative of bacteriophage .lambda. was found. Of 17 R plasmids, 13 gave rise to the formation of high frequency transducing (hft) hybrids of phage P1Cm. All hft P1Cm derivatives transduced other antibiotic resistances in addition to gentamicin resistance. The DNA sequences integrated in the prophage genomes of hft phages were generally longer than 15 Kb [kilobases] and ranged up to 60 Kb. In most cases, the insertion points were close to the insertion sequence IS1 elements resident in P1Cm. In some of the hybrid phages, the entire R plasmids were cointegrated. One plasmid (pWP14a) cointegrated preferentially into a BglII fragment of P1Cm containing an invertible structure (C-loop). Eleven of 16 R plasmids showed homology to IS1.