In current study plasmids (size from 6.2 to 8.5 kb) copied with the "rolling circle" mechanism (RCR type) of the pC194 family have been identified in environmental bacteria Bacillus pumilus. It is shown that these extrachromosomal elements are widely distributed in B. pumilus bacteria circulating on the territory of Belarus (19 strains from 41 contain RCRplasmids) and they are characterized by genetic polymorphism. The most common extrachromosomal genetic elements (7.7 kb size) are identical to

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... the plasmid pBp15.1S from the entomopathogenic strain B. pumilus 15.1. The remaining 6 type of plasmids differ from each other and from the known extrachromosomal genetic elements of genus Bacillus. In the investigated bacteria no replicons similar to pLS20 were detected.