Brevibacterium linens RBL strain cryptic plasmid pRBL1 (8.0 kb) is des
cribed. a region involved in pRBL1 autonomous replication in Corynebac
terium glutamicum was identified by insertion and deletion mapping and
partially sequenced. This region encodes for a hypothetical 310-amino
acid (aa) protein closely related to the replicases of plasmids pXZ10
142 (C. glutamicum) and pAL5000 (Mycobacterium fortuitum). The 310-aa
protein also shows significant homology to proteins of pColE5-099 (Shi
gella sonnei) and pJD1 (Neisseria gonorrhoea). At least one of these p
roteins, the Rep protein of pColE5-099, is known to be involved in the
ta replication. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.