Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2006

Publication Title

Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Department

Geisel School of Medicine

Abstract

A tool kit of vectors was designed to manipulate and express genes from a wide range of gram-negative species by using in vivo recombination. Saccharomyces cerevisiae can use its native recombination proteins to combine several amplicons in a single transformation step with high efficiency. We show that this technology is particularly useful for vector design. Shuttle, suicide, and expression vectors useful in a diverse group of bacteria are described and utilized. This report describes the use of these vectors to mutate clpX and clpP of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and to explore their roles in biofilm formation and surface motility. Complementation of the rhamnolipid biosynthetic gene rhlB is also described. Expression vectors are used for controlled expression of genes in two pseudomonad species. To demonstrate the facility of building complicated constructs with this technique, the recombination of four PCR-generated amplicons in a single step at >80% efficiency into one of these vectors is shown. These tools can be used for genetic studies of pseudomonads and many other gram-negative bacteria.

DOI

10.1128/AEM.00682-06

Original Citation

Shanks RM, Caiazza NC, Hinsa SM, Toutain CM, O'Toole GA. Saccharomyces cerevisiae-based molecular tool kit for manipulation of genes from gram-negative bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006 Jul;72(7):5027-36. doi: 10.1128/AEM.00682-06. PMID: 16820502; PMCID: PMC1489352.

COinS