Abstract
Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the cointegration of two replicons mediated by mobile genetic elements in prokaryotes [1-3]. It is widely accepted that some transposons, namely Tn3 and its relatives including the IS element yd, form cointegrates as intermediates in their transposition [4-10]. These cointegrates are resolved by a site-specific recombinase encoded by the elements. Since this recombinase also acts as a repressor for its own biosynthesis [7,11], it is assumed to be present in low amounts in all cells harboring Tn3. Therefore, cointegrates are usually unstable, but stable cointegrates are obtained with mutants affected in the resolution process [4,6,7]. However, it is not yet clear whether cointegrates are also prerequisite intermediates in the transposition of other IS elements such as IS/, because cointegrates carrying IS/ as direct repeats at junctions of two replicons have been isolated without introducing a mutation in the elements [12-18]. This report describes stability and segregation processes of IS/ mediated cointegrates which had been formed between the bacteriophage P1 genome and plasmid pBR322 derivatives. 2.1. Strains and media
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