ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A PRIB MUTANT OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI INFLUENCING PLASMID COPY NUMBER OF DELTA-ROP COLE1-TYPE PLASMIDS

The lethality induced by the overproduction in Escherichia coli of a h eterologous protein was used to select bacterial mutants. In one of th ese, the mutation responsible was mapped to priB. We describe the isol ation of this mutant, the sequencing of the mutated gene, and its in v ivo effect on plasmid replication.