Transfer of plasmid pTO1 from Escherichia coli to various representatives of the order Actinomycetales by intergeneric conjugation.

Plasmid pTO1 containing the oriT fragment from RK2, the Escherichia coli replication function from pBR322, and a DNA fragment of actinophage phi C31 with the attachment site was transferred from E. coli S17-1 to strains of the genera Actinomadura, Arthrobacter, Micromonospora, Nocardia, Rhodococcus, and to 16 strains of the genus Streptomyces. The frequency of conjugant formation was 1 x 10(-3)-1 x 10(-5) depending on the strain. Hybridization experiments demonstrated that plasmid pTO1 integrates into chromosomes of a number of the recipient strains examined.