Structure of a naturally occurring plasmid with genes for enterotoxin production and drug resistance

A physical map of the 117-kilobase conjugative plasmid pCG86 was constructed using electron microscope heteroduplex analysis. This plasmid carries the genes elt, for heat-labile enterotoxin, and estA, for heat-stable enterotoxin, as well as the genes for resistance to tetracycline, streptomycin, sulfonamides, and mercury. These genes were mapped using deletions and Tn5 insertions as physical markers. Analysis of a heteroduplex between pCG86 and a previously described enterotoxin plasmid (EntP307) showed a 48-kilobase region of complete homology which included the genes elt and estA. An 8.8-kilobase BamHI fragment of EntP307 carrying elt, cloned by others, was also shown to be completely homologous with pCG86. The position of elt on the fragment was verified, and it was shown to carry estA as well. A 44-kilobase region of pCG86 showed partial homology with the region of EntP307 previously shown to contain conjugal transfer genes. The gene for tetracycline resistance is carried on a stem-loop structure with the dimensions of Tn10, and the genes for the other drug resistance markers are carried on a 14.6-kilobase segment that forms an insertion loop in heteroduplexes with EntP307. These studies suggest that pCG86 arose either by recombination between an enterotoxin plasmid of incompatibility group FI, like EntP307, and a multiple resistance factor of incompatibility group FII, or by transposition into EntP307 of two transposons.