Entrapment vectors--how to capture a functional transposable element

Transposable elements (i.e. insertion sequences and transposons) are components of nearly all bacterial genomes. The majority of these elements have been identified as a result of various sequencing projects. However, in most cases, their activity was not experimentally confirmed. For this reason several strategies have been developed that allow direct cloning and identification of functional transposable elements. Most of the methods are based on the ability of transposable elements to inactivate or activate particular genes by insertion. In this review we describe and critically discuss different cloning strategies that employ various entrapment vectors, carrying (i) conditionally lethal genes, (ii) antibiotic selection cartridges, (iii) promoter-less genes or (iv) suicide replicons. These tools, besides facilitating the identification of new transposable elements, also enable the investigation of various DNA rearrangement mutations, which are related to the transposition process.