Transfer and behaviour of some R plasmids in plant associated bacteria

Abstract

Eleven R plasmids isolated from enteric bacteria were studied for their transfer and stability in plant associated bacteria to use them as vehicles for In vivo genetic engineering. The bacteria of plant origin viz., Xanthomonas, Erwinia, Citrobacter, Rhizobium, Agrobacterium and Pseudomonas used as recipients and the R plasmids used included pFK2, pFK6, pFK7, pFK8, pFK20, pAS72, pNJ15, pNJ18, pFK5a, pFK17 and pFK18. The R plasmids which carried resistance to one or five different antibiotics were tested for their conjugal transmission from enteric bacteria to the bacteria of plant origin. Two of these R plasmids viz., pFK6 and pFK7 could be conjugally transmitted to four different bacteria of plant origin whereas, pFK2 could be transmitted to three and the rest could be transmitted to two or one plant associated bacteria. Most of the R plasmids were found to be stably maintained after their transmission into the bacteria of plant origin indicating that they could be used as vehicles for In vivo genetic engineering of these bacteria.