The E. coli K-12 chromosome flanked by two IS10 sequences transposes.

Transposon are commonly found among prokaryotes and usually range up to 20 kilobases. In this study, we were interested to determine whether a larger DNA segment could transpose. We observed that the E. coli K-12 chromosome, 4,000 kilobases in size, when flanked by two IS10 sequences, could transpose to pACYC177 at a frequency of 10(-8) per cell per generation. We suggest that this transposition event occurs independently of the size and without duplication of the entire DNA sequence flanked by the IS10 elements.