PLASMID TRANSFER BY ELECTROPORATION AND CONJUGATION IN TETRAGENOCOCCUS AND PEDIOCOCCUS GENERA AND EVIDENCE OF PLASMID-LINKED METABOLIC TRAITS

Various strains of Pediococcus genus were successfully transformed by electroporation using the broad host-range plasmid pSA3 and the lactoc occal Rep22 based-replicon pUCB304. Failure to transform Tetragenococc us strains by electroporation have led to use conjugation as an altern ative plasmid DNA transfer mechanism. Intergeneric matings conducted w ith the broad host-range conjugative plasmid pVA797 from Lactococcus l actis subsp. lactis SL2/797A to Tetragenococcus halophilus and Pedioco ccus pentosaceus strains have shown that Tetragenococcus strains are n ot impervious to plasmid DNA transfer. Plasmid and metabolic profiles of wild and mutant strains of Pediococcus pentosaceus NCDO990 have sho wn that many metabolic traits including lactose utilization are plasmi d linked.