Transient transformation of frankia by fusion marker genes in liquid culture.

Frankia is a nitrogen-fixing actinobacterium that establishes root nodule symbiosis with actinorhizal plants. The molecular basis of the symbiosis is largely unknown because genetic manipulation of Frankia has not been feasible. In this study we made novel technical attempts to transform Frankia strain CcI3. We generated fusion marker genes consisting of a tetracycline resistance gene with a high codon usage similarity to Frankia's and promoters of the strain's translation initiation factor 3 gene. We flanked the fusion genes with genomic sequences from strain CcI3 in the expectation that they would be integrated into the targeted site by homologous recombination. We introduced the transformation constructs into Frankia cells by electroporation and selected transformants in liquid media. The growth of antibiotic resistant cells was dependent on the presence of construct DNA. PCR analysis of the genome and reverse transcription-PCR analysis confirmed that the marker genes were introduced into the cells. Integration of the marker genes into the chromosome by homologous recombination did occur, but at a low frequency. Most of the constructs were not integrated into the chromosome and existed as degraded molecules in the cells. Marker genes declined in the transformant population during maintenance, showing that the transformation was unstable.