[Transposition and inheritance of Bordetella Tn-element in Escherichia coli K12]

B. pertussis genetically mobile element TnBp3 integrates the plasmid in E. coli chromosome. During culturing under nonselective conditions the majority of cells of some E. coli strains lose the kanamycin resistance marker, which indicates the instability of TnBp3 inheriting. The stability of inheriting the integrated structure is higher in E. coli cells with recB-21 recC-12 sbcB-2 mutations. The role of RecBC recombination system in extrusion of TnBp3 is discussed.