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Rearrangements in the staphylococcal β‐lactamase‐encoding plasmid, plP1066, including a DNA inversion that generates two alternative transposons
Author(s) -
Derbise A.,
Dyke K.G.H.,
Solh N.
Publication year - 1995
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.1365-2958.1995.mmi_17040769.x
Subject(s) - transposable element , biology , tn3 transposon , inverted repeat , transposase , plasmid , genetics , insertion sequence , direct repeat , gene , transposition (logic) , p element , genome , linguistics , philosophy
The plasmid plP1066, harboured by a methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain isolated in France, carries genes specifying β‐lactamase. This plasmid undergoes numerous rearrangements. One of these was an insertion, between the genes binR and sin encoding resolvases, of a 16 kb element which displayed the characteristic features of a transposon. This putative transposon, named Tn 5404 , carried genes encoding proteins involved in its transposition, as well as a resolution system, which were indistinguishable from those of the S. aureus transposon Tn 552 . These were: p480 encoding a probable transposase, p271 encoding a putative ATP‐binding protein, binL encoding a resolvase, and a resolution site, resL . In addition, Tn 5404 carried aminoglycoside‐resistance genes ( aphA, str ) and the insertion sequence IS 1181 . Tn 5404 contained at its termini 116 bp imperfect inverted repeats, similar to those of Tn 552 , and was flanked by 6 bp direct repeats. Insertion of Tn 5404 close to resR and to the structural and regulatory β‐lactamase genes ( blaZ, blal, blaR1 ) of plP1066, generated a 3.5 kb invertible segment flanked by inversely repeated resolution sites ( resR, resL ). This invertible segment, which carried p480 , p271 and binL , generated Tn 552 or Tn 5404 , depending on its orientation. Thus, these two transposons share their transposition and resolution systems.