A series of medium and high copy number arabinose-inducible Escherichia coli expression vectors compatible with pBR322 and pACYC184

• RSF1030 origin plasmids are compatible with standard cloning plasmids.
• The RSF1030 origin plasmids are available in both medium and high copy versions.
• A series of arabinose inducible expression vectors with the differing RSF1030 origins have been constructed with a wide variety of antibiotic selections.
• The plasmids are freely disseminable.

The original pBAD24 plasmid and the derived lower copy number (the pBAD322 series) expression vectors have been widely used in Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica, and related bacteria. However, a flexible pBAD expression system has been available only in pMB1 (ColE1) vectors. We report a series of pBAD vectors that replicate using the origin of plasmid RSF1030 that are compatible with pMB1 (ColE1) and p15A (pACYC) vectors. Both high (≥ pBAD24) and medium (~ pBAD322) copy number plasmids encoding resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, kanamycin, tetracycline, spectinomycin/streptomycin, gentamycin, or trimethoprim are available.