Isolation, by tetracycline selection, of small plasmids derived from R-factor R12 in Escherichia coli K-12.

The examination, by agarose gel electrophoresis, of tetracycline-resistant colonies of Escherichia coli K-12 carrying R-factor R12 reveals the presence of smaller plasmid deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs), incompatible with R12, in many of the clones. These plasmids are demonstrated to be homologous with R12 DNA by electron microscope heteroduplex experiments and by the production of consistent fragment patterns upon digestion with various restriction endonucleases. These autonomously replicating plasmids form a related series of covalently closed circular DNA molecules ranging in size from 3.6 X 10(6) to 61 X 10(6) daltons. Plasmids of molecular weight between 3.6 X 10(6) and 37 X 10(6) confer no antibiotic resistances, but when jointly present with R12 by nonetheless enhance the expression of the tetracycline resistance associated with this latter molecule.