Characterization of a small cryptic plasmid from Pseudomonas nitroreducens strain TX1

Pseudomonas nitroreducens TX1 was isolated from a rice field drainage in Taiwan. The bacterium is of special interest because of its capability to use a group of nonionic surfactants such as alkylphenol polyethoxylates even at high concentrations as a sole carbon source. In this study, a small cryptic circular plasmid, pTX1, was characterized from P. nitroreducens TX1. It is 2,286 bp in length with a GC content of 63.3% and harbors three open reading frames, Rep_pTX1 and functionally unidentified ORF1 and ORF2. The predicted rep_pTX1 gene product is homologous to Rep proteins of plasmids belonging to the pC194/pUB110 family, which is predominantly found in Gram-positive bacteria and is known to replicate by the rolling-circle mechanism. The copy number of pTX1 was estimated to be about 150 in each cell. Based on the genetic fingerprints and comparison with other plasmids, it is concluded that pTX1 replicates by a rolling circle mechanism which is rarely found for Pseudomonas plasmids.