Molecular biology techniques, including plasmid transformation of Escherichia coli DH5(F' Phi80dlacZ DeltaM15 Delta(lacZYA-argF)U169 deoR recA1 endA1 hsdR17(rK-mKþ)phoA supE44 lambda-thi-1), bacterial cultivation, antibiotic selection, and agarose gel electrophoresis were carried out as described or by following the manufacturer’ s instructions.