Cloning and characterization of an IS-like element present in the genome of Brevibacterium lactofermentum ATCC 13869.

A repetitive DNA element of the Gram+ Brevibacterium lactofermentum (Bl), cloned by a modification of the subtractive hybridization method, contained a 1.4-kb IS-like element, IS13869, which included an open reading frame (ORF) inside a perfect 26-bp terminal inverted repeat (TIR). An 8-bp direct repeat (DR) was found outside each TIR. The ORF encoded a deduced protein of 436 amino acids (49 380 Da) with extensive similarity to other known transposases of insertion elements of Mycobacterium smegmatis (IS1096). Pseudomonas sp. (tpnA) and Corynebacterium glutamicum (IS31831). Distinct patterns were observed in different strains of Bl by hybridization with a probe internal to IS13869: four copies of IS13869 occurred in the wild type (wt) and R31 strains, but only three of them were observed in a recA derivative of the wt. Analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis suggested that at least one copy of IS13869 had changed its position inside the chromosome during the lineage of a Bl derivative.