6 ± 0.5 pHW120 Carrot, root 2005 Spain, Tenerife This study WMR121 52.5 ± 0.5 pHW121 Carrot, root 2005 Spain, Tenerife This study WMR126 52.2 ± 0.1 pHW126 Carrot, root 2006 Albania This study WMR128   – Carrot, root 2006 Croatia,

Dubrovnik This study WMR138   – Carrot, root 2006 Spain, La Palma This study WMR140   – Carrot, root 2006 Spain, La Palma This study WMR141   – Carrot, root 2007 Portugal, Madeira This study WMR143   – Carrot, root 2007 Portugal, Madeira This study WMR144   – Carrot, root 2007 Portugal, Madeira This study a DSM strains were obtained from the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Germany. CCUG strains were obtained from the Culture Collection, University Göteborg, Sweden. b Means and standard deviations of the mol% G+C contents were calculated from at least three independent measurements. c Synonyms: CCUG 14185T, ATCC 33071T, find more CUETM 77-115T, MCCM 01700T, check details CDC 1327-79T. d Synonyms: CDC 658-79, MCCM 01948. e Synonyms: SM S7/1-576, CDC 4402-96. f Synonyms: SM Bonn 7, CDC 4418-96. g Taken from [6]. Figure 1 Maps of plasmids and homologous sequences. Same colours indicate homologous genes, operons or genetic elements (mrs,

ssi). Larger regions exhibiting more than 85% this website sequence identity at the DNA level are marked with grey areas or are indicated below the sequence. Nucleotide sequence identities are given in percent. Replication and transfer origins are shown above the DNA when they are located on the sense strand and below if they are placed on the antisense strand. The plasmids pECA1039 and ColE1 as well as parts of the chromosomes from P. luminescens TT01 and E. tasmaniensis Et1/99 are shown for comparison. Abbreviations: DRs, direct repeats; mrs, multimer resolution sites; oriT, origin of transfer; oriV, origin of replication; ssi, single strand initiation site. ColE1-like plasmids The replication regions of the ColE1-like plasmids showed the typical elements: RNA I, RNA II, a single strand initiation

site (ssi) and a terH sequence for termination of until lagging-strand synthesis. Phylogenetic analysis based on the RNA II sequence revealed that pHW15, pHW120, pHW114A, pHW114B, pHW30076 and pHW4594 represented a subgroup within the ColE1 family together with pECA1039, a plasmid isolated from Pectobacterium atrosepticum [24]. pHW42 did not fall into this subgroup and was more related to other ColE1-like plasmids (Fig. 2A). Not only the replication regions but also the multimer resolution sites (mrs) were closely related in all ColE1-like plasmids of Rahnella. In a phylogenetic tree based on mrs sites (Fig. 2B) most plasmids isolated from Rahnella formed a cluster similar to the RNA II tree, confirming that they form a separate class within the ColE1 family. Figure 2 The ColE1-like plasmids of Rahnella form a sub-family. Phylogenetic trees were constructed based on RNA II (A) or the mrs (B).