Trying to lose F' in E.coli

[Bernard P. Murray, PhD]

In article <7057q4$r5r$1 at news3.alpha.net>, jhartnet at promega.com wrote:

>         I'm trying to get an E.coli strain to lose its F' episome. I can 
> screen for cells that have lost it, but how can I promote the cells to lose 
> the F'.

Just a thought, but can't you treat it like a plasmid and use one
of the protocols for curing?  I think there's some way of doing it
with acridine orange or another similar dye (I have no practical
experience of this).  However, I don't know if such protocols
are selective for "normal" sized plasmids.
     Maybe someone has a plasmid with the same ori as F' and with
a selectable marker...?
     Good luck,
          Bernard
-- 
Bernard P. Murray, PhD
Dept. Cell. Mol. Pharmacol., UCSF, San Francisco, USA