[SOS-induction in the presence of the plasmid pKM101 in the bacterial cells Escherichia coli K12].

Induction of transcription by the plasmid pKM101 (mutability mediating derivate of the plasmid R46) of the sfiA gene controlling cell division and of the fruA gene encoding the fructose specific enzyme II of the phosphoenolpyruvate-phosphotransferase system in intact cultures of Escherichia coli was studied. The genes under study were fused to the bacteriophage Mu dl (Ap lac). Activation of the sfiA gene, a typical member of the SOS-regulon, was demonstrated to depend on the key genes of the SOS-system-recA and lexA. In contrast, the fruA gene that is non-inducible by the UV-light, a classical SOS-inducing agent, is not activated by the presence of the plasmid pKMIO1 in the bacterial cells. The data obtained suggest that the presence of pKMIO1 plasmid in the Escherichia coli cells induces a SOS-signal as a consequence of the plasmid DNA replication or its conjugative transfer.