Plasmids and Promoters in Corynebacteria and Their Applications
Jan Nešvera and Miroslav Pátek
from: Corynebacteria: Genomics and Molecular Biology (Edited by: Andreas Burkovski). Caister Academic Press, U.K. (2008)
Abstract
The discovery of small plasmids in corynebacteria initiated genetic analysis and molecular breeding of industrially important Corynebacterium strains. The constructed plasmid vectors for corynebacteria include cloning vectors, expression vectors and promoter-probe vectors. They were particularly used for the isolation of various genes and their overexpression and inactivation, which allowed their metabolic role to be deduced. Using promoter-probe vectors, many promoters of corynebacteria were localized and characterized. A systematic promoter sequence analysis and mutational studies resulted in the definition of promoter consensus sequences. In addition to the promoters of housekeeping genes, promoters recognized by alternative sigma factors of RNA polymerase have recently been characterized. Plasmid vectors for corynebacteria are important tools, not only for the detailed analysis of gene functions and their regulation, but also for the improvement of industrial strains. The gene manipulations within the chromosome using integrative plasmid vectors and graded expression from altered promoters, both of which result in stable recombinant strains, are considered a promising approach to strain breeding read more ...
