CLONING OF FRANKIA SPECIES PUTATIVE TRNA(PRO) GENES AND THEIR EFFICACY FOR PSAM2 SITE-SPECIFIC INTEGRATION IN STREPTOMYCES-LIVIDANS

pSAM2 is a conjugative Streptomyces ambofaciens mobile genetic element that can transfer and integrate site specifically in the genome. The chromosomal attachment site (attB) for pSAM2 site-specific recombination for two Frankia species was analyzed. It overlaps putative proline tRNA genes having a 3'-terminal CCA sequence, an uncommon feature among actinomycetes. pSAM2 is able to integrate into a cloned Frankia attB site harbored in Streptomyces lividans. The integration event removes the 3'-terminal CCA sequence and introduces a single nucleotide difference in the T Psi C loop of the putative Frankia tRNA(pro) gene. Major differences between the attP sequence from pSAM2 and the Frankia attB sequence restrict the identity segment to a 43-bp-long region. Only one mismatch is found between these well-conserved att segments. This nucleotide substitution makes a BstBI recognition site in Frankia attB and was used to localize the recombination site in a 25-bp region going from the anticodon to the T Psi C loop of the tRNA(pro) sequence. Integration of pSAM2 into the Frankia attB site is the first step toward introduction of pSAM2 derivatives into Frankia spp.