Plasmid RP4 host-lethal function kilA and its repressor korA sequences are part of the cryptic tellurite resistance transposon Tn521.

The normally silent 4.5 kb tellurite resistance transposon Tn521 of RP4 has been shown to carry sequences from both the flanking kilA and korA loci of this broad host range plasmid. The major portion of both of these sequences were used as probes to examine DNA homology in Southern transfer hybridization experiments with plasmid recipients of Tn521 chosen from varying incompatibility groups. In the case of every recipients molecule analyzed using either probe, DNA homology was observed.