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ISRm31, a new insertion sequence of the IS66 family in Sinorhizobium meliloti

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Abstract

Sinorhizobium meliloti natural populations show a high level of genetic polymorphism possibly due to the presence of mobile genetic elements such as insertion sequences (IS), transposons, and bacterial mobile introns. The analysis of the DNA sequence polymorphism of the nod region of S. meliloti pSymA megaplasmid in an Italian isolate led to the discovery of a new insertion sequence, ISRm31. ISRm31 is 2,803 bp long and has 22-bp-long terminal inverted repeat sequences, 8-bp direct repeat sequences generated by transposition, and three ORFs (A, B, C) coding for proteins of 124, 115, and 541 amino acids, respectively. ORF A and ORF C are significantly similar to members of the transposase family. Amino acid and nucleotide sequences indicate that ISRm31 is a member of the IS66 family. ISRm31 sequences were found in 30.5% of the Italian strains analyzed, and were also present in several collection strains of the Rhizobiaceae family, including S. meliloti strain 1021. Alignment of targets sites in the genome of strains carrying ISRm31 suggested that ISRm31 inserts randomly into S. meliloti genomes. Moreover, analysis of ISRm31 insertion sites revealed DNA sequences not present in the recently sequenced S. meliloti strain 1021 genome. In fact, ISRm31 was in some cases linked to DNA fragments homologous to sequences found in other rhizobia species.

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Author notes

  1. Angelo Pietro Femia

    Present address: Dipartimento di Farmacologia, Università di Firenze, viale Pieraccini 6, 50100, Florence, Italy

  2. Filippo Favilli

    Present address: Centro di Studio dei Microrganismi Autotrofi, Università di Firenze, CNR, 50100 , Florence, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Biologia animale e Genetica, via Romana 17, 50125 , Florence, Italy

    Emanuele G. Biondi, Angelo Pietro Femia, Filippo Favilli & Marco Bazzicalupo

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  1. Emanuele G. Biondi
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  2. Angelo Pietro Femia
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Correspondence to Marco Bazzicalupo.

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Biondi, E.G., Femia, A.P., Favilli, F. et al. ISRm31, a new insertion sequence of the IS66 family in Sinorhizobium meliloti . Arch Microbiol 180, 118–126 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-003-0568-x

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