Characterization of two insertion sequences, IS701and IS702, from the cyanobacteriumCalothrixspecies PCC 7601

摘要

SummaryWe describe the characterization of two insertion elements,IS701andIS702, isolated fromCalothrixspecies PCC 7601. These insertion elements were cloned from spontaneous pigmentation mutants. Both show the characteristics of typical bacterial insertion sequences, i.e. they present long terminal inverted repeats and they duplicate target DNA upon insertion. These elements share no homology with the only other cyanobacterial insertion sequence described so far,IS891.At least 15 copies ofIS701and 9 copies ofIS702were detected by hybridization experiments in theCalothrix7601 genome. Their occurrence in several cyanobacterial strains is also reported.