Browsing by Author "Collett, Helen Jeanne"

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    Characterization of a transposon-induced pleiotropic metronidazole resistant mutant of Clostridium acetobutylicum P262
    (1996) Collett, Helen Jeanne; Reid, Sharon J
    Metronidazole is a pro-drug which must be reduced to elicit a bactericidal effect. In the clostridia, some of the electron transport proteins that provide the source of electrons for the reductive activation of metronidazole play a key role in electron distribution, which in turn regulates the direction of carbon flow in the cell. The aim of this research project was to isolate electron transport gene(s) from the solvent-producing Clostridium acetobutylicum strain P262, using transposon-induced metronidazole resistance as a selection system. In the process, the feasibility of transposon mutagenesis in this strain, which lacks conventional systems for DNA delivery, was assessed, and the nature of metronidazole susceptibility in the C. acetobutylicum wild type was investigated. The metronidazole resistant transconjugant of interest, referred to as mutant 3R, was shown to harbour a single insertion of the Tn925: :Tn917 transposon cointegrate within a structural gene, designated sum (susceptibility to metronidazole).