Halobacterial megaplasmids are negatively supercoiled

Abstract

Several covalently closed circular halobacterial megaplasmids (up to more than 500 kb) from different strains of Halolerax mediterranei, have been resolved by orthogonal‐field alternating gel electro‐phoresis (OFAGE). These molecules seem to be negatively supercoiled in vivo, as deduced from the effect of intercalating agents affecting their topology and, therefore, their electrophoretic mobility. It has also been demonstrated that the topolsomerase II Inhibitor novobiocin affects the native topological state of halobacterial megaplasmids impeding their migration in OFAGE under standard conditions for resolution of large supercoiled molecules.