Molecular structures of packageable ColE1 hybrids and the generation of deletion mutants from one of the hybrids.

ColE1 derivatives carrying cohesive end sites of lambda phage genome (= cos lambda) can be packaged within lambda phage particles. The DNA structure of the prototype ColE1-cos lambda derivative named pKY2257 was studied because of its potential usefulness in various fields in molecular biology. pKY2257, which carries an intact galactose operon of E. coli, is a convenient replicon to detect Tn3 translocation. It was found that one of the PK2257::Tn3 derivatives, pKY2113, generated various small plasmids in E. coli. The molecular structures of some of these deletion mutants were compared with each other and with those of parental plasmid DNAs by heteroduplex analysis and restriction enzyme digestion. A possible mechanism, which seems to be unique to this kind of deletions, is discussed on the basis of the present results.