Transposon Tn 7 Directs Transposition into the Genome of Filamentous Bacteriophage M13 Using the Element-Encoded TnsE Protein

The bacterial transposon Tn7 has a pathway of transposition that preferentially targets conjugal plasmids. We propose that this same transposition pathway recognizes a structure or complex found during filamentous bacteriophage replication, likely by targeting negative-strand synthesis. The ability to insert into both plasmid and bacteriophage DNAs that are capable of cell-to-cell transfer would help explain the wide distribution of Tn7 relatives.