Use of the Escherichia coli transposon Tn1000 (gamma delta) to generate mutations in Bacillus subtilis DNA.

Plasmid pHM2 contains a Bacillus subtilis spoIIA gene and is able to replicate in both Escherichia coli and B. subtilis. The plasmid was mobilized at low frequency by the E. coli F plasmid. Nearly 30% of the mobilized plasmids contained an insert of Tn1000 (gamma delta). Fourteen of the inserts were in the B. subtilis DNA portion of pHM2. Of these, two adjacent inserts abolished expression of the plasmid spoIIA gene in B. subtilis. From the map positions of flanking inserts that do not abolish spoIIA gene expression, it is estimated that the gene is probably not more than 700 bp long.