Genetic analysis of the parB+ locus of plasmid R1

Plasmid R1 in Escherichia coli carries two loci which independently contribute to the stable maintenance of the plasmid. A genetic analysis of one of these, parB+, was carried out, and it was shown that the minimal region exerting stabilizing activity comprises at most 580 bp. The nucleotide sequence of the parB+ locus was determined, and indicated the presence of two genes, of which one probably codes for a 52 amino acid polypeptide, whereas the other gene product may be an untranslated RNA. These suggestions, based on the nucleotide sequence information, were supported by gene expression studies employing lac fusions. An incompatibility phenotype connected to parB+ was localized to that part of the 580 bp parB+ region which seems to encode the untranslated RNA.