TARGET SEQUENCE SPECIFICITY OF TRANSPOSON TN5 IN THE ABSENCE OF MAJOR HOTSPOTS IN THE PLASMID PBR322 - IDENTIFICATION OF A NEW HOTSPOT

The plasmid pLB11-1 is a pBR322 derivative in which part of the tetracycline resistance (tet) gene (basepair coordinates 23 to 375), containing five hotspots for Tn5 insertion (D. E. Berg et al., Genetics105, 813-828, 1983), has been replaced with a 5.1-kb fragment of Escherichia coli genomic DNA encoding an osmoregulatory function. Restriction mapping of 40 pLB11-1::Tn5 derivatives, chosen at random from 240 Tn5 insertion derivatives with an unaltered osmotolerant phenotype, placed Tn5 in the vector portion of 20 clones. The majority of these insertions (16/20) were located in a 0.09-kb region immediately downstream of the β-lactamase (bla) gene. Nucleotide (nt) sequence analysis of seven insertions from this group revealed an identical site of insertion within pBR322, representing a hitherto unidentified hotspot for Tn5 insertion. The target sequence, 5′-GTCTGACGC, was found to be duplicated in these cases. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.