Transconjugants obtained from this system showed
constant phenotypic characteristics and were not altered
in antibiotic production. Plasmid integration at a single
specific attachment site on S. rimosus genome was stable.
Moreover, the conjugation protocol developed here was
used to achieve the expression of the eGFP gene under
the control of the thiostrepton-inducible tipA promoter
in S. rimosus R7, demonstrating its utility for the future
manipulation of the rimocidin gene cluster. It can also be
used with the oxytetracycline-producing strain M4018 in
preference to the classical and more labour-intensive
PEG-mediated protoplast transformation.