Novel Plasmid-Borne Fimbriae-Associated Gene Cluster Participates in Biofilm Formation in .

This study reported the involvement of a gene cluster from a conjugative plasmid in the biofilm formation of . We used a novel EZ-Tn transposon technique to generate a transposon library and used arbitrarily primed PCR to detect the insertion sites in biofilm formation-deficient mutants. To validate the function of candidate biofilm formation genes, the genes were cloned into plasmid pBluescript II SK (+) and transformed into DH5α.

16S-23S ribosomal DNA intergenic spacer regions in cellulolytic myxobacteria and differentiation of closely related strains.

The diversity of 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer regions (ISR) among cellulolytic myxobacterial strains was assayed. Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR amplification products from ten strains shows that there are at least four copies of rRNA operons in the genus Sorangium, based on their size and restriction enzymatic digest maps. There are two sequence organization patterns: tRNA(Ile)-tRNA(Ala)-containing ISR and tRNA-lacking ISR.