CHARACTERIZATION AND CLONING OF PLASMIDS FROM THE IRON-OXIDIZING BACTERIUM THIOBACILLUS-FERROOXIDANS

More than 100 independent strains of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans were isolated from six different domestic mining sites. Although there was some variation according to sampling site, about 73% of all strains carried more than one plasmid ranging in size from about 2.0 to 30 kilobase-pairs(kb). Among these, four plasmids of 2.4, 4.7, 5.1, and 8.9 kb, designated pTNA33, pTSY91, pTSB121, and pTSB122, respectively, were cloned into Escherichia coli plasmids. pTSB121 and pTSB122, originated from the same T. ferrooxidans strain, showed weak homology by Southern blotting, whereas pTSB121 showed high homology with pTSY91 from a different strain. It seems that the occurrence of the plasmid homologous to pTSB121 or pTSB122 is more ubiquitous in Thiobacillus. On the other hand, pTNA33 is a unique plasmid because it showed no significant homology with other plasmids.