Abstract
The sporulation gene spoVE of Bacillus subtilis was cloned by the "prophage transformation" method in temperate phage φ105. The specialized transducing phage, φ105spoVE, restored the sporulation of the sporulation-defective mutant of B. subtilis strain 1S51 (spoVE85). Transformation experiments showed that the spoVE gene resides on a 1.7 megadalton EcoRI restriction fragment of the transducing phage genome. Subsequently, the 1.7 megadalton fragment was recloned into the EcoRI site of a plasmid pUB110 and the deletion plasmids having a deletion within the 1.7 megadalton insert were constructed. The plasmid carrying the entire spoVE gene restored the sporulation of strain 5202 (spoVE85 recE4) to a frequency of 103spores/ml, but inhibited the sporulation of strain 4309 (spo+ recE4) to a level of 104spores/ml.
