Aims: To develop an intergeneric conjugation system for rimocidin-producing Streptomyces rimosus.
Methods and results: High efficiencies of conjugation [10(-2)-10(-3) transconjugants/recipient colony forming units (CFU)] were obtained when spores of S. rimosus were heat treated at 40 degrees C for 10 min prior to mixing with E. coli ET12567(pUZ8002/pIJ8600) as donor. Mycelium from liquid grown cultures of S. rimosus could also be used as recipient instead of spores, with 24-h cultures giving optimal results. TSA (Oxoid) medium containing 10 m mol l(-1) MgCl(2) was the preferred medium for conjugation. Southern hybridization was used to confirm that transconjugants of S. rimosus contained a single copy of pIJ8600 integrated at a unique chromosomal attachment site (attB). The transconjugants exhibited a high stability of plasmid integration and showed strong expression of green fluorescent protein when using pIJ8655 as the conjugative vector.
Conclusion: Intergeneric conjugation between E. coli and S. rimosus was achieved at high efficiency using both spores and mycelium.
Significance and impact of the study: The conjugation system developed provides a convenient gene expression system for S. rimosus R7 and will enable the genetic manipulation of the rimocidin gene cluster.