CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF A NEW VECTOR TRANSPOSON, PLBT--MINI-TN1O-LAC-KAN, TO IDENTIFY ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIVE GENES IN A MARINE BACTERIUM/

The previously described pLOFKm transposon delivery plasmid (J. Bacter iol. (1990) 172, 6557-6567) was engineered such that a promoterless la cZ gene was cloned within the transposon cassette, generating the vect or pLBT. Using pLBT, stable insertion mutations were generated at high frequencies in Vibrio sp. S141 and Pseudomonas sp. S91, and the inter rupted genes could be monitored for their pattern of regulation. Genet ic screens isolated mutants defective in a variety of activities. We d escribe the construction and use of pLBT as a tool for reporter gene m utant analysis in bacteria other than well-characterized laboratory st rains.