Open AccessReversal of Mu gem 2ts‐induced mutations
Author(s) -
Ghelardini P.,
Liébart J.C.,
Fabozzi G.,
Tomassini B.,
D'Ari R.,
Paolozzi L.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
fems microbiology reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.91
H-Index - 212
eISSN - 1574-6976
pISSN - 0168-6445
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6976.1995.tb00199.x
Subject(s) - prophage , lysogenic cycle , biology , transposase , genetics , bacteriophage mu , transposable element , insertion sequence , transposition (logic) , genome , mutant , dna transposable elements , bacteriophage , gene , escherichia coli , linguistics , philosophy
Mutations induced by the integration of a Mu gem 2ts mutant prophage can revert at frequencies around 1 × 10 −6 , more than 10 4 ‐fold higher than that obtained with Mu wild‐type. Several aspects characterize Mu gem 2ts precise excision: (i) the phage transposase is not involved; (ii) the RecA protein is not necessary; and (iii) revertants remain lysogenic with the prophage inserted elsewhere in the host genome. In addition, prophage re‐integration seems to be non‐randomly distributed, whereas Mu insertion into the host genome is a transposition event without any sequence specificity. In this paper, we describe that the site of re‐integration somehow depends on the original site of insertion. Two alternative models are proposed to explain the strong correlation between donor and receptor sites.