Autotransmissible resident plasmid of Rhizobium meliloti.

A resident plasmid of wild-type strains of Rhizobium meliloti of 59.6 megadaltons has been shown to be transferred at a high frequency to "cured" strains of this bacterial species. This plasmid, named pEZ1, that confers phage-sensitivity to cells carrying it is also transmissible to Escherichia coli and from it to "cured" R. meliloti strains.