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Journal of Bacteriology, September 2002, p. 4739-4746, Vol. 184, No. 17
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.17.4739-4746.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Palindromic Unit-Independent Transposition of IS1397 in Yersinia pestis

Unité de Programmation Moléculaire et Toxicologie Génétique, CNRS URA 1444,¹ and Unité de Biologie Cellulaire du Noyau,² Laboratoire des Yersinia, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France³

Received 1 April 2002/ Accepted 3 June 2002

Palindromic units (PUs) are intergenic repeated sequences scattered over the chromosomes of Escherichia coli and several other enterobacteria. In the latter, IS1397, an E. coli insertion sequence specific to PUs, transposes into PUs with sequences close to the E. coli consensus. Reasons for this insertion specificity can relate to either a direct recognition of the target (by its sequence or its structure) by the transposase or an interaction between a specific host protein and the PU target DNA sequence. In this study, we show that for Yersinia pestis, a species deprived of PUs, IS1397 can transpose onto its chromosome, with transpositional hot spots. Our results are in favor of a direct recognition of target DNA by IS1397 transposase.

Dedicated to M. Hofnung, who died on 28 June 2001 during the writing of this paper.

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