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ERIC sequences: a novel family of repetitive elements in the genomes of Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and other enterobacteria
Author(s) -
Hulton C. S. J.,
Higgins C. F.,
Sharp P. M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1991.tb00755.x
Subject(s) - biology , salmonella , escherichia coli , enterobacteriaceae , genome , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , escherichia , computational biology , bacteria , gene
Summary We describe a family of highly conserved, Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC) sequences, 14 of which have been identified in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium and a further three in other enterobacterial species ( Yersinia pseudotubercuiosis, Kiebsiella pneumoniae and Vibrio cholerae ). ERIC sequences are 126 bp long and appear to be restricted to transcribed regions of the genome, either in intergenic regions of polycistronic operons or in untranslated regions upstream or downstream of open reading frames. ERIC sequences are highly conserved at the nucleotide sequence level but their chromosomal locations differ between species. Several features of ERIC sequences resemble those of REP sequences (Stern et al. , 1984) although the nucleotide sequence is entirely different. The question of whether ERICs have a specific function, or represent a form of 'selfish’DNA, is discussed.