The pNZ8148 vector contains an origin of replication (ORI), the gene for the resistance to chloramphenicol, two genes for the replication proteins repA and repC, the nisin-inducible promoter (P nisA), and the transcription terminator (T). The gene, tagged with a Strep-tag II (STREP) followed by a stop codon (*), can be inserted between the necessary NcoI site and another endonuclease site from the multicloning site (MCS) such as PstI, SphI, KpnI, SpeI, XbaI, SacI and HindIII.

The replicons of the vectors pNZ8008, pNZ8148, pNZ8149 and pNZ8150 are identical and came originally from the Lactococcus lactis plasmid pSH71. However, this replicon has a broad host range. Plasmids with this replicon can replicate in many Gram-positive bacteria, such as Lactobacillus plantarum and Streptococcus thermophilus.

pNZ8148 – In this vector the nisA promoter is followed by an NcoI site for translational fusions at the ATG. It contains a terminator after the MCS. Sequence adaptation for cloning in NcoI can result in a change in the second amino acid of a protein (Mierau and Kleerebezem, 2005).