Isolation and evolutionary analysis of a RepFVIB replicon of the plasmid pSU212

Abstract

We have isolated at least two different replication regions from pSU401, a Tn802 insertion derivative of the IncFVI plasmid pSU212. One of the replication regions (RepFVIB) is highly homologous to the RepFIIA replicon of IncFII plasmids, and thus belongs to the RepFIIA family. We have also cloned the incompatibility determinant (incFVZ) and the copy number control gene (cop) from RepFVIB and determined their nucleotide sequences. The analysis of the sequences supports the idea of a modular evolution of RepFIIA plasmids.