[Molecular cloning of plasmid ColIb-P9 genes responsible for its mutator function]

The localization of plasmid ColIb-P9 muc genes mediating the plasmids protective and mutagenesis-increasing activity has been determined. The increase of muc genes dose by cloning them within the multicopy vector has been shown to repress the mutator function of the plasmid. No essential homology has been revealed between ColIb-P9 muc gene nucleotide sequences, pKM101 muc genes with a similar function, and umuDC chromosome genes. It has been shown that the synthesis of 38 KD protein is essential for the manifestation of the mutator function of the plasmid.