Transformation of the cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans 6301 with the Escherichia coli plasmid pBR322.

Anacystis nidulans 6301 has been transformed in the light to ampicillin resistance with the plasmid pBR322. Permeaplasts prepared by 2-hr treatment of cells with lysozyme and EDTA are transformed with a 50-fold higher efficiency than that observed for cells. beta-Lactamase is present in A. nidulans transformed either with pBR322 or the plasmid pCH1 as evidenced by hydrolysis of the beta-lactam ring of Nitrocefin in extracts of transformants. beta-Lactamase also can be immunoprecipitated from extracts of [35S]methionine-labeled pBR322 transformants and coprecipitates with ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase. Expression of the carboxylase is apparently amplified in pBR322 transformants as is that for several soluble proteins in pCH1 transformants. Chromosomal DNA per cell is increased about 6-fold after transformation of A. nidulans 6301 with either pBR322 or pCH1. A 4.3-kilobase-pair plasmid can be isolated from pBR322 transformants in addition to the endogenous plasmids pUH24 and pUH25.