Expression of the strA-strB streptomycin resistance genes in Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas campestris and characterization of IS6100 in X. campestris.

Expression of the strA-strB streptomycin resistance (SMr) genes was examined in Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria. The strA-strB genes in P. syringae and X. campestris were encoded on elements closely related to Tn5393 from Erwinia amylovora and designated Tn5393a and Tn5393b, respectively. The putative recombination site (res) and resolvase-repressor (tnpR) genes of Tn5393 from E. amylovora, P syringae, and X. campestris were identical; however, IS6100 mapped within tnpR in X. campestris, and IS1133 was previously located downstream of tnpR in E. amylovora (C.-S Chiou and A. L. Jones, J. Bacteriol. 175:732-740, 1993). Transcriptional fusions (strA-strB::uidA) indicated that a strong promoter sequence was located within res in Tn5393a. Expression from this promoter sequence was reduced when the tnpR gene was present in cis position relative to the promoter. In X. campestris pv. vesicatoria, analysis of promoter activity with transcriptional fusions indicated that IS6100 increased the expression of strA-strB. Analysis of codon usage patterns and percent G+C in the third codon position indicated that IS6100 could have originated in a gram-negative bacterium. The data obtained in the present study help explain differences observed in the levels of SMr expressed by three genera which share common genes for resistance. Furthermore, the widespread dissemination of Tn5393 and derivatives in phytopathogenic prokaryotes confirms the importance of these bacteria as reservoirs of antibiotic resistance in the environment.