Genetic hybridization at the unlinked thy and str loci of Streptococcus

The sanguis and pneumoniae species of Streptococcus were used as recipients in transformations from str+ to str-r and from thy- to thy+. The str-r mutations in the two species had been previously shown to be allelic. Homology of the thy- mutations in the two species was demonstrated in the similar phenotypic properties they conferred (death in the absence of thymidine, lack of thymidylate synthetase). The str and thy loci are unlinked in each species.--- When the two species are transformed by both homospecific and heterospecific DNA, the efficiency is always lower in the heterospecific cross. The efficiency of heterospecific transformation is considerably lower at the thy than at the str locus. DNA was extracted from recipients that had integrated markers of heterospecific origin. When such hybrid DNA is tested on the original recipient species, the heterospecific markers are usually as efficient as homospecific markers. When tested on the original donor species, however, the hybrid DNA is usually more efficient than heterospecific DNA. This is true for both thy and str transformation. -- -- Forty independent thy+ hybrids were obtained in the cross of sanguis thy- recipients with pneumoniae thy+ DNA. These hybrids fall into a number of classes based upon the relative efficiency with which their extracted DNA's are able to transfer the thy+ marker into pneumoniae thy- cells. The most efficient of these DNA's exhibits about 20% of the efficiency of homospecific pneumoniae thy+ DNA and three orders of magnitude greater efficiency than heterospecific sanguis thy+ DNA. Thus, very little of the inefficiency of heterospecific transformation of the thy locus is ascribable to a classic restriction mechanism. Rather, the wild-type thy+ loci in the two species appear to differ at multiple sites, and independent heterospecific transfers result in differential extents of integration of these sites. On this basis, the thy+ loci of the two species differ at a greater number of sites than do the respective str+ loci.