A Cassette Containing Thiostrepton, Gentamicin Resistance Genes, and sequences Is Effective in Construction of Recombinant Mycobacteria.

The genetic manipulation of genome is limited by the availability of selection markers. Spontaneous resistance mutation rate of to the widely used kanamycin is relatively high which often leads to some false positive transformants. Due to the few available markers, we have created a cassette containing thiostrepton resistance gene () for selection in and BCG, and gentamicin resistance gene () for and mc155, flanked with sequences recognized by the Xer system of mycobacteria. This cassette adds to the limited available selection markers for mycobacteria.