Summary
Eleven colicin factors have been placed in two groups defined by a number of physiological criteria such as the effect of the host recA (recombination-proficiency) allele on colicin titres and the maximum number of copies of the colicin factor per chromosome. The fundamental difference between the two groups may lie in the molecular weight of the plasmid DNA: one group is about 5x106, the other about 70x106. The colicins specified by members of each group are also related. Colicin factors within the same group may therefore resemble each other because they are descended from the same ancestral plasmid which was either ‘EK-like’ of low molecular weight or ‘BIV-like’ of high molecular weight.
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Communicated by W. Maas
Aided by grants from the Science Research Council and the Central Research Fund of the University of London.
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Hardy, K.G., Meynell, G.G., Dowman, J.E. et al. Two major groups of colicin factors: Their evolutionary significance. Molec. Gen. Genet. 125, 217–230 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00270744
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00270744