Generalized transduction of small Yersinia enterocolitica plasmids

To study phage-mediated gene transfer in Yersinia, the ability of Yersinia phages to transduce naturally occurring plasmids was investigated. The tran sduction experiments were performed with a temperate phage isolated from a pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica strain and phage mixtures isolated from sewage. Small plasmids (4.3 and 5.8 kb) were transduced at a frequency of 1 0(-5) to 10(-7)/PFU. However, we could not detect the transduction of any i ndigenous virulence plasmid (ca. 72 kb) in pathogenic Yersinia attains. Tra nsductants obtained by infection with the temperate phage were lysogenic an d harbored the phage genome in their chromosomes.