Streptococcal R plasmid pIP501: endonuclease site map, resistance determinant location, and construction of novel derivatives.

The streptococcal resistance plasmid pIP501 (30 kilobase pairs [kb]) encodes resistance to chloramphenicol (Cmr) and erythromycin (Emr) and is capable of conjugative transfer among numerous streptococcal species. By using a streptococcal host-vector recombinant DNA system, the Cmr and Emr determinants of pIP501 were localized to 6.3-kb HindIII and 2.1-kb HindIII-AvaI fragments, respectively. pIP501 was lost at a frequency of 22% in Streptococcus sanguis cells grown at 42 degrees C but was stable in cells grown at 37 degrees C (less than 1% frequency of loss). Sequences from a cryptic multicopy plasmid, pVA380-1, were substituted for the pIP501 Emr determinant in vitro, and the resulting recombinant plasmid, designated pVA797, was recovered in transformed S. sanguis cells. The replication of pVA797 was governed by the pVA380-1 sequences based on temperature-stable replication and incompatibility with pVA380-1-derived replicons. The self-ligation of partially cleaved HindIII pIP501 DNA fragments allowed the localization of a pIP501 region involved in autonomous plasmid replication. A small pIP501 derivative (pVA798) obtained from this experiment had a greatly increased copy number but was unstably inherited. Our data indicate that the sequences encoding the resistance determinants and some of the plasmid replication machinery are relatively clustered on the pIP501 molecule. The properties of pVA797 and pVA798 indicate that these molecules will enhance current streptococcal genetic systems from the standpoint of conjugative mobilization (pVA797) and gene amplification (pVA798).