Restriction enzymes do not play a significant role in Haemophilus homospecific or heterospecific transformation

Abstract

Competent Haemophilus influenzae Rd recipients, either as phage HP1 restricting (r+) or nonrestricting (r-) nonlysogens or defective lysogens, were exposed to deoxyribonucleic acids from various wild-type phage HP1 lysogenic H. influenzae serotype strains (non-encapsulated derivatives of serotypes a,b, c, d, and e), to DNA from lysogenic Haemophilus parahaemolyticus, and to DNA from modified and nonmodified phage HP1. Transformation of antibiotic resistance markers and of prophage markers in homospecific crosses was observed to be unaffected by the recipient restriction phenotype, whereas the transfection response was much reduced in r+ recipients. Heterospecific transformation of prophage markers was reduced by only 80 to 90%, whereas antibiotic resistance marker transformation was 1,000 to 10,000 times lower. Heterspecific transfection was at least 100 times lower than homospecific transfection in both r+ and r- recipients. The general conclusion is that neither class I nor class II restriction enzymes affect significantly the transformation efficiency in homospecific and heterospecific crosses. The efficiency of heterospecific transformation may depend mainly on the deoxyribonucleic acid homology in the genetic marker region.