Effects of Chloramphenicol Acetyl Transferase Gene Deletion From pMOB3 on the Growth Inhibition of Escherichia coli C584 in M9 Minimal Media

Escherichia coli C584, a pMOB3-containing strain similar to E. coli DH5 α, was observed to be unable to grow in M9 minimal media supplemented with glycerol and thiamine. E. coli DH5 α will thrive in M9 minimal media, but the identical E. coli C584 strain containing the pMOB3 plasmid grows poorly. This experiment was conducted to examine the potential role of the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene in pMOB3 in the growth inhibition in M9 minimal media. The CAT gene was removed from pMOB3 and this modified plasmid, named pLGL, was transformed into DH5 α. There was observable growth of these transformants in M9 minimal media, which suggested that the CAT gene was responsible for growth inhibition in M9 minimal media.