A novel neisserial shuttle plasmid: a useful new tool for meningococcal research.

We report the identification and nucleotide sequence analysis of a cryptic plasmid pMIDG2830 from the Gram-negative bacterium Neisseria flavescens. The largest open reading frame encodes a protein similar to the replication protein, RepA, found in pAB49 from Acinetobacter baumannii and pNI10 from Pseudomonas. Modified by the incorporation of a kanamycin resistance cassette, the plasmid can be stably maintained in Escherichia coli and Neisseria meningitidis, and can be used as a shuttle plasmid in meningococcal research.