Precise excision and instability of the transposon Tn5 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Excision of the transposon Tn5 from sites of insertion in plasmid DNA was shown to occur at high frequency in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Plasmids with Tn5 insertions conjugated poorly into P. aeruginosa and adversely affected growth compared to the respective parental plasmids. The kanamycin-resistance phenotype of Tn5 was expressed poorly in P. aeruginosa and kanamycin-sensitive strains were common during the manipulation of the P. aeruginosa transconjugants. Examination of plasmid DNA isolated from kanamycin-sensitive P. aeruginosa transconjugants revealed excision of Tn5 sequences. A plasmid containing a selectable marker (mercury resistance) inactivated by a Tn5 insertion was constructed, and Tn5 excised precisely, permitting the expression of the mercury-resistance marker at high frequency (10(-3) in P. aeruginosa and at the expected low frequency (10(-7] in Escherichia coli. The recombinational mechanism that promotes frequent Tn5 excision in P. aeruginosa operated in the absence of the P. aeruginosa recA gene product. Fragments of Tn5 were also examined for excision and instability in P. aeruginosa. A plasmid containing the terminal 485 bp of inverted repeat sequences from Tn5, but lacking the transposase or kanamycin-resistance genes, also showed precise excision of Tn5 DNA at high frequency (10(-2] in P. aeruginosa. Unlike plasmids containing a complete Tn5 insertion, this plasmid transferred to P. aeruginosa at normal frequencies and growth of the host was not severely impaired. In contrast, plasmids containing either IS50 element transferred to P. aeruginosa at greatly reduced frequencies, and transconjugants containing the IS50R element (which contains the active transposase gene) were small and especially difficult to maintain. P. aeruginosa transconjugants harbouring a plasmid containing only the DNA between the IS50 elements (which included the kanamycin-resistance gene) were of normal size and stably maintained.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)