DNA cloning in Streptomyces: a bifunctional replicon comprising pBR322 inserted into a Streptomyces phage

The Gram-positive, mycelial, differentiating streptomycetes are responsible for the production of many important antibiotics. The availability of gene cloning systems in this microbial group would have many industrial applications besides allowing more penetrating study of the genetics of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) (which, as the best understood streptomycete genetically, serves as a model for much other Streptomyces genetics). Recent successes (see previous paper) in introducing Streptomyces DNA into S. coelicolor and Streptomyces lividans on plasmid vectors would be nicely complemented by the availability of Streptomyces bacteriophage vectors (discussed in ref. 5): for example, many phages have wide and easily defined host ranges; heat-inducible prophages might be used to give high copy number of cloned DNA; efficient phage promoters might be used to increase gene expression; there may be differential stabilities for particular DNA sequences cloned in plasmids vis-à-vis phages; selective insertion of DNA, utilizing packaging constraints, may be possible with phages; and in situ hybridization of radioactive probes to DNA in plaques is likely to be simple. We describe here the use of the moderately wide host range temperate phage, phi C31, for this purpose.