On the role of the recipient cell during conjugation in Escherichia coli.

To study the role of the E. coli recipient cell in conjugation recipient cell mutants deficient in conjugation (Con-) were isolated. Mutants specific for F-type E. coli donor cells (ConF-) and mutants specific deficient in conjugation with I-type donor cells (ConI-) were isolated. Both ConF- and ConI- mutants were blocked in stable mating pair formation. Biochemical analysis of the mutants suggests that the outer membrane protein coded by the ompA gene and LPS are important for recipient activity in F-type conjugation while LPS is important for recipient activity in I-type conjugation.