. This is the first reported case of conjugative transfer of a naturally occurring plasmid between gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.

RSF1010 is maintained at a copy-number of about 10-12 per chromosome in E coli, P. aeruginosa and S. enterica sv.Typhimurium (Frey and Bagdasarian, 1989)

broad-host-range plasmid RSF1010 is a member of the IncQ group of plasmids, which stably replicate in a wide variety of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, including E. coli and several strains of cyanobacteria

although RSF1010 is not self-transmissible, it harbors an origin of transfer and mobilization genes and can co-opt type IV secretion machinery of other self-transmissible plasmids such as RK2 and RP4

impairing the nicking activity of the RSF1010 MobA protein facilitates cloning manipulations, it significantly reduces conjugation efficiency. We addressed this problem by editing the plasmid and conjugation system to restore conjugation efficiency.