Potential of Conjugal Transfer as a Strategy for the Introduction of Recombinant Genetic Material into Strains of Lactobacillus helveticus

Cointegrates generated between a plasmid pIP501 deletion derivative (pVA797) and nonconjugative shuttle vector pSA3 were confirmed as capable of exconjugation from lactococci into a range of strains of Lactobacillus helveticus with the concomitant expression of a recombinant gene. The plasmid cointegrate that was formed appeared to be segregationally stable at 37°C in some host strains. In all strains, however, the plasmid became increasingly unstable as the incubation temperature was raised. The technique offers not only a generalized method for the introduction of novel genetic material into this important industrial microbe but also the possibility of exploiting the thermal sensitivity of the plasmid to enable it to act as a delivery system for the integration of cloned genes into the bacterial chromosome, at restrictive temperatures, by recombination at regions of homology.