Two Chimeric Chromosomes of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) Generated by Single Crossover of the Wild-Type Chromosome and Linear Plasmid SCP1

摘要

Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) strain 2106 carries a 1.85-Mb linear plasmid, SCP1′-cysD, in addition to a 7.2-Mb linear chromosome. Macrorestriction analysis indicated that both linear DNAs are hybrids of the wild-type chromosome and the linear plasmid SCP1 on each side. Nucleotide sequencing of the fusion junctions revealed no homology between the recombination regions. SCP1′-cysD contains an SCP1 telomere and a chromosomal telomere at each end and therefore does not have terminal inverted repeats. In addition, SCP1′-cysD could not be eliminated from strain 2106 by various mutagenic treatments. Thus, we concluded that both the 7.2-Mb chromosome and SCP1′-cysD are chimeric chromosomes generated by a single crossover of the wild-type chromosome and SCP1. This may be regarded as a model of chromosomal duplication in genome evolution.