Bacteroides fragilis transfer factor Tn5520: the smallest bacterial mobilizable transposon containing single integrase and mobilization genes that function in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: Many bacterial genera, including Bacteroides spp., harbor mobilizable transposons, a class of transfer factors that carry genes for conjugal DNA transfer and, in some cases, antibiotic resistance. Mobilizable transposons are capable of inserting into and mobilizing other, nontransferable plasmids and are implicated in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. This paper presents the isolation and characterization of Tn5520, a new mobilizable transposon from Bacteroides fragilis LV23. At 4,692 bp, it is the smallest mobilizable transposon reported from any bacterial genus. Tn5520 was captured from B. fragilis LV23 by using the transfer-deficient shuttle vector pGAT400DeltaBglII. The termini of Tn5520 contain a 22-bp imperfect inverted repeat, and transposition does not result in a target

SUBMITTER: Vedantam G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC93685 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature