Characterization of the Lactobacillus plantarum plasmid pCD033 and generation of the plasmid free strain L. plantarum 3NSH

• The manuscript describes a Lactobacillus plantarum plasmid with a not yet described mode of replication.
• We identified the replication region and highlighted similarities to related plasmids.
• We characterized the segregational behavior of plasmid pCD033.
• Implementation of an innovative curing strategy resulted in the plasmid free strain L. plantarum 3NSH.

Lactobacillus plantarum CD033, a strain isolated from grass silage in Austria, harbors a 7.9 kb plasmid designated pCD033. Sequence analysis identified 14 open reading frames and 8 of these were supposed to be putative coding sequences. Gene annotation revealed no putative essential genes being plasmid encoded, but a plasmid addiction system based on a PemI/PemK-like toxin–antitoxin system, able to stabilize plasmid maintenance. Absence of a replication initiation protein, a double strand origin as well as a single strand origin on plasmid pCD033 suggests replication via a new type of theta mechanism, whereby plasmid replication is potentially initiated and regulated by non-coding RNA. Detailed examination of segregational stability of plasmid vectors consisting of pCD033-fragments, combined with a selection marker, resulted in definition of a stably maintained minimal replicon. A gene encoding a RepB/OrfX-like protein was found to be not essential for plasmid replication. Alignment of the amino acid sequence of this protein with related proteins unveiled a highly conserved amino acid motif (LLDQQQ). L. plantarum CD033 was cured of pCD033 resulting in the novel plasmid free strain L. plantarum 3NSH. Plasmid curing demonstrated that no essential features are provided by pCD033 under laboratory conditions.