Construction of an integration vector for use in the archaebacterium Methanococcus voltae and expression of a eubacterial resistance gene.

An integration vector for use in Methanococcus voltae was constructed, based on the Escherichia coli vector pUC18. It carries the structural gene for puromycin transacetylase from Streptomyces alboniger, which is flanked by expression signals of M. voltae structural genes and hisA gene sequences of this bacterium. Transformed M. voltae cells are puromycin resistant. Several types of integration of the vector into the chromosome were found. Only one case was due to nonhomologous recombination. The integrated sequences were stable under selective pressure but were slowly lost in some cases in the absence of the selective drug. The vector could be excised from M. voltae chromosomal DNA, recircularized and transformed back into E. coli.