Open AccessMobile DNA elements in the gas vesicle gene cluster of the planktonic cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa
Author(s) -
Mlouka Alyssa,
Comte Katia,
Tandeau de Marsac Nicole
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2004.tb09674.x
Subject(s) - microcystis aeruginosa , cyanobacteria , bacteria , cluster (spacecraft) , gene cluster , chemistry , dna , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , computer science , programming language
Insertion sequences (IS) have been characterized in Microcystis aeruginosa gas vesicle‐deficient mutants. ISMae 4 , a homolog of the cyanobacterial IS 702 , belongs to the IS 5 family, subgroup ISL 2 . ISMae 2 and ISMae 3 display typical IS features and express a transposase of the IS 4 and IS 1 family, respectively. ISMae 1 exhibits a more complex genetic structure and harbours a degenerated transposase gene distantly related to IS 1 elements. Hybridizations with IS‐specific DNA probes suggest that transposition of ISMae 2 and ISMae 3 occurred by a replicative‐type mechanism. To our knowledge this is the first report showing that IS 1 elements can be mobile in cyanobacteria.