Figure 4

Summary of structural elements within regions of pB264 involved in replication and conjugal transfer. (A) Schematic representation of pB264, showing relative positions of restriction sites (as in Figure 3), as well as the positions and relative orientations of nine open reading frames (long arrows) and several repeat elements (small arrowheads). ORFs for which a function has been demonstrated are indicated in darker blue. Numbering of the repeat elements is as defined by Kulakov et al. [16]. Numbers in italics indicate single copies of inverted repeat elements, while the paired elements within the direct repeats are indicated by a single label (DR1 or DR2). Below the diagram of pB264 are schematic representations of the regions involved in replication of pB264 [defined as the intersection of the two smallest autonomously replicating plasmids (plasmids 6 and 8) described in Figure 3] and conjugation of pB264 [defined as the intersection of the two smallest conjugative plasmids (18 and 20) described in Figure 3]. Note that only 9 of the 14 nt comprising one copy of inverted repeat 2 are retained within the replication region (far left). (B) Sequence detail of the region near DR1. The direct repeat is composed of two 30 nt elements (DR1a and DR1b) indicated in uppercase letters. This region also possesses four smaller (16 nt) direct repeat elements, indicated by arrows above the sequence. (C) Sequence detail in the region of DR2. The two repeat elements that comprise DR2 (DR2a and DR2b) are indicated in uppercase letters. A sequence element that is conserved among pAL5000-type plasmids is nested within the repeat elements (underlined). Note that the smallest autonomously replicating plasmid bears only DR2a and a single copy of the pAL5000 element and extends only to the position marked "deletion terminus."