BROAD HOST RANGE, REGULATED EXPRESSION SYSTEM UTILIZING BACTERIOPHAGE-T7 RNA-POLYMERASE AND PROMOTER

An IPTG-regulated broad host range expression system was constructed using compatible broad host range plasmids, the T7 RNA polymerase, and T7 promoter sequences. The system is implemented by the coexistence of two plasmids. The first contains the T7 RNA polymerase gene under the control of lacI or lacI(q) genes and lacUV5 promoter. The second encodes the T7 promoter upstream of a multicloning site. IncP1 or IncP4 T7 promoter plasmids, and IncP1, IncP4 or IncW T7 RNA polymerase plasmids were constructed. The expression from the IncP1 promoter plasmids in the presence of the IncP4 polymerase plasmids was tested by in vivo lacZ fusions and in vivo labeling of proteins. In this combination, the use of lacI(q) improves the regulation levels in Escherichia coli, whereas, in Pseudomonas phaseolicola, a 28.5-fold regulation was obtained with lacI. Although the level of lacZ expression from the T7 promoter in P. phaseolicola is low compared with E. coli, it is similar to levels obtained with the pm promoter in Pseudomonas putida when the differences in the copy number of the expression vectors are taken into consideration.