Characterization of the replication region of the Enterococcus faecalis plasmid p703/5

In this work, a 1.9-kb region of enterococcal plasmid p703/5 was isolated and the nucleotide sequence analysis of the region was performed. One major open reading frame (ORF) was identified encoding a polypeptide of 28 kDa. Database comparisons suggested that the protein showed some hornology with other bacterial RepA proteins. Upstream of the ORF, a potential dnaA box, AT-rich region and 22-bp tandemly repeated sequences (DNA iterons), a feature typical for many replication ori sites, were recognized. Deletion analysis using Exonuclease III and several restriction enzymes indicated that the three elements and the gene product from the ORF were essential for replication and that the minimum unit of DNA required for replication resided on the 1.2-kb AvaII subfragment. Thus, this gene product was referred to as RepA.