Unmarked gene deletion and host-vector system for the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus islandicus

Ling Deng, Haojun Zhu, Zhengjun Chen, Yun Xiang Liang, Qunxin She

120 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sulfolobus islandicus is being used as a model for studying archaeal biology, geo-biology and evolution. However, no genetic system is available for this organism. To produce an S. islandicus mutant suitable for genetic analyses, we screened for colonies with a spontaneous pyrEF mutation. One mutant was obtained containing only 233 bp of the original pyrE sequence in the mutant allele and it was used as a host to delete the beta-glycosidase (lacS) gene. Two unmarked gene deletion methods were employed, namely plasmid integration and segregation, and marker replacement and looping out, and unmarked lacS mutants were obtained by each method. A new alternative recombination mechanism, i.e., marker circularization and integration, was shown to operate in the latter method, which did not yield the designed deletion mutation. Subsequently, Sulfolobus-E. coli plasmid shuttle vectors were constructed, which genetically complemented DeltapyrEFDeltalacS mutation after transformation. Thus, a complete set of genetic tools was established for S. islandicus with pyrEF and lacS as genetic markers.
Original languageEnglish
JournalExtremophiles
Volume13
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)735-46
Number of pages11
ISSN1431-0651
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009

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