TRANSFORMATION OF MYCOPLASMA-CAPRICOLUM AND EXAMINATION OF DNA RESTRICTION-MODIFICATION IN MYCOPLASMA-CAPRICOLUM AND MYCOPLASMA-MYCOIDES SUBSP MYCOIDES

Plasmids pIKL Delta and pIK Delta-erm have recently been developed as mycoplasmal cloning vectors. In this report, we demonstrate that these plasmids can replicate in Mycoplasma capricolum, a mycoplasmal specie s for which transformation had not previously been characterized. Both plasmids are stably maintained at a higher copy number than in their parental species, Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides. We have also ex amined the possibility of one or more restriction-modification systems affecting transformation frequencies in both species. (C) 1994 Academ ic Press, Inc.