Conjugal transfer using the bacteriophage phi C31 att/int system and properties of the attB site in Streptomyces ambofaciens

摘要

To facilitate molecular genetic studies of Streptomyces ambofaciens that produces spiramycin, a commercially important macrolide antibiotic used in human medicine against Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria, the conditions for the conjugal transfer of DNA from E. coli to S. ambofaciens were established using a bacteriophage phi C31 att/int system. The transconjugation efficiency of S. ambofaciens varied with the medium used; the highest frequency was obtained on AS-1 medium containing 10 mM MgCl2 without heat treatment of the spores. In addition, by cloning and sequencing the attB site, we identified that S. ambofaciens contains a single attB site within an ORF coding for a pirin homolog, and its attB site sequence shows 100% nt identity to the sequence of S. coelicolor and S. lividans, which have the highest efficiency in transconjugation using the phi C31 att/int system.