This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hu, W.-Y.
Right arrow Articles by Derbyshire, K. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hu, W.-Y.
Right arrow Articles by Derbyshire, K. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Bacteriol, June 1998, p. 3039-3048, Vol. 180, No. 12
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Target Choice and Orientation Preference of the Insertion Sequence IS903

Wen-Yuan Hu and Keith M. Derbyshire*

Molecular Genetics Program, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, and Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York 12201-2002

Received 20 January 1998/Accepted 10 April 1998

We have examined the targeting preference of the bacterial insertion element IS903 by determining the sites of insertion of a large number of transposition events into the 55-kb conjugative plasmid pOX38. Despite the large target size, all the insertions were clustered in four small distinct regions associated with conjugal DNA transfer. Within these regions, many different sites were used for insertion; however, there were a few sites that IS903 inserted into more than once. Alignment of the insertion sites showed that there was no consensus sequence within the 9-bp target duplication but that there were preferred sequences located symmetrically on either side of the target. This is consistent with target recognition by a dimer or multimer of transposase, with either sequence-specific or structure-specific interactions on both sides of the target. We show further that when one of these preferred regions was cloned into a second conjugative plasmid, pUB307, it was still a preferred target, implying that all the sequences necessary for target selection are contained within this DNA segment. Also, we observed a very strong preference for insertion in a single orientation in pUB307. We examined the possibility that either DNA replication from the origin of vegetative replication, oriV, or the origin of transfer, oriT, might determine this orientation effect. We find that reversing the direction of vegetative replication had no effect on the orientation of transposon insertions; however, reversing the direction of DNA transfer abolished the orientation effect. This supports the idea that conjugal DNA transfer imparts a polarity on the target that is sensed by the transposon.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Wadsworth Center, David Axelrod Institute, 120 New Scotland Ave., Albany, NY 12201-2002. Phone: (518) 473-6079. Fax: (518) 486-7971. E-mail: keith.derbyshire{at}wadsworth.org.


J Bacteriol, June 1998, p. 3039-3048, Vol. 180, No. 12
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Chatterjee, A. G., Leem, Y. E., Kelly, F. D., Levin, H. L. (2009). The Chromodomain of Tf1 Integrase Promotes Binding to cDNA and Mediates Target Site Selection. J. Virol. 83: 2675-2685 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Linheiro, R. S., Bergman, C. M. (2008). Testing the palindromic target site model for DNA transposon insertion using the Drosophila melanogaster P-element. Nucleic Acids Res 36: 6199-6208 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Garsin, D. A., Urbach, J., Huguet-Tapia, J. C., Peters, J. E., Ausubel, F. M. (2004). Construction of an Enterococcus faecalis Tn917-Mediated-Gene-Disruption Library Offers Insight into Tn917 Insertion Patterns. J. Bacteriol. 186: 7280-7289 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhong, J., Karberg, M., Lambowitz, A. M. (2003). Targeted and random bacterial gene disruption using a group II intron (targetron) vector containing a retrotransposition-activated selectable marker. Nucleic Acids Res 31: 1656-1664 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lee, Y.-A., Fan, S.-C., Chiu, L.-Y., Hsia, K.-C. (2001). Isolation of an Insertion Sequence from Ralstonia solanacearum Race 1 and Its Potential Use for Strain Characterization and Detection. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 3943-3950 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dufour, A., Rincé, A., Uguen, P., Le Pennec, J.-P. (2000). IS1675, a Novel Lactococcal Insertion Element, Forms a Transposon-Like Structure Including the Lacticin 481 Lantibiotic Operon. J. Bacteriol. 182: 5600-5605 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Thomson, V. J., Bhattacharjee, M. K., Fine, D. H., Derbyshire, K. M., Figurski, D. H. (1999). Direct Selection of IS903 Transposon Insertions by Use of a Broad-Host-Range Vector: Isolation of Catalase-Deficient Mutants of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. J. Bacteriol. 181: 7298-7307 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Clément, J.-M., Wilde, C., Bachellier, S., Lambert, P., Hofnung, M. (1999). IS1397 Is Active for Transposition into the Chromosome of Escherichia coli K-12 and Inserts Specifically into Palindromic Units of Bacterial Interspersed Mosaic Elements. J. Bacteriol. 181: 6929-6936 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chen, J.-H., Hsieh, Y.-Y., Hsiau, S.-L., Lo, T.-C., Shau, C.-C. (1999). Characterization of Insertions of IS476 and Two Newly Identified Insertion Sequences, IS1478 and IS1479, in Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. J. Bacteriol. 181: 1220-1228 [Abstract] [Full Text]