Journal of Bacteriology, February 2001, p. 1296-1299, Vol. 183, No. 4
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.4.1296-1299.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Department of Microbiology, Eastman Dental Hospital for Oral Health Care Sciences, University College London, University of London, London WC1X 8LD, United Kingdom,1 and Verfügungsgebäude für Forschung und Entwicklung, Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, 55101 Mainz, Germany2
Received 21 August 2000/Accepted 21 November 2000
Previous work has identified the conjugative transposon Tn5397 from Clostridium difficile. This element was shown to contain a group II intron. Tn5397 can be conjugatively transferred from C. difficile to Bacillus subtilis. In this work we show that the intron is spliced in both these hosts and that nonspliced RNA is also present. We constructed a mutation in the open reading frame within the intron, and this prevented splicing but did not prevent the formation of the circular form of the conjugative transposon (the likely transposition intermediate) or decrease the frequency of intergeneric transfer of Tn5397. Therefore, the intron is spliced, but splicing is not required for conjugation of Tn5397.
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