Structural and functional analysis of the par region of the pSC 10 1 plasmid

Three distinct segments (the partition-related, or PR segments) within the 370 bp par region of pSC101 have been shown by deletion analysis to be involved in partitioning of the plasmid to daughter cells. The two lateral segments are direct repeats, each of which potentially can pair with an inverted repeat located between them to form a hairpin-loop structure. Deletion of either lateral segment, together with the middle segment, results in plasmid instability (the Par- phenotype). Deletion of one PR segment yields a stable plasmid that nevertheless shows reduced ability to compete with a coexisting wild-type derivative of the same replicon (the Cmp- phenotype). Deletion of all three segments results in a rate of plasmid loss far in excess of that predicted from the observed copy number of the plasmid. Analysis of the segregation properties of these mutants and of temperature-sensitive and high copy number derivatives of the pSC101 replicon suggests a model in which the par function allows the nonreplicating plasmids of the intracellular pool to be counted as individual molecules, and to be distributed evenly to daughter cells. In the absence of par, the multicopy pool of plasmids behaves as a single segregation unit.