Effects of different alleles of the E. coli K12 pol A gene on the replication of non-transferring plasmids.

The effects of eight different polA alleles on the replication of six different non-transferring enterobacterial plasmids have been tested. Using phage P1CM transduction, different allelic polA mutations were introduced into E. coli K12 strains carrying one of several antibiotic resistance plasmids. Plasmid stability in the transductants was examined by testing clones for drug resistance after growth under various conditions. From the results, the R factors may be divided into three different classes. One plasmid is only affected by PolA conditions which inhibit host cell growth, 3 plasmids (from the same compatibility group) are unstable under conditions in which the cells are severely deficient in DNA polymerase I and two other plasmids (compatible with each other and with the other 4) are immediately lost from such transductants and are unstable in a number of others. Furthermore, the plasmids which are most dependent on DNA polymerase I have been shown to replicate in the presence of chloramphenicol and therefore typigy a class of plasmids which includes bacteriocinogenic factors such as ColE1 and CloDF13, resistance determinant RSF1030 and the E. coli 15 minicircular plasmid.