Bidirectional chain-termination nucleotide sequencing: transposon Tn5seq1 as a mobile source of primer sites

The sequencing of large DNA fragments by the chain-termination method [Sanger et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74 (1977) 5463-5467] has generally required extensive manipulations to bring all parts of the fragment near a specific primer-binding site, or the repeated synthesis of new oligodeoxynucleotide primers. Here we develop a more efficient approach, the use of a transposable element to insert primer binding sites at random in the DNA of interest. We constructed a Tn5 derivative called Tn5seq1 with unique DNA segments near each end so that oligodeoxynucleotides matching them could serve as primers for sequencing in each direction from any Tn5seq1 insertion site. Our experiments demonstrate the use of Tn5seq1 for sequencing in pBR322 plasmids and also in uncloned DNAs of the Escherichia coli chromosome. The unique segments near the left and right ends of Tn5seq1 are promoters from phages T7 and SP6, respectively, to permit the efficient transcription of adjacent DNAs in vivo or in vitro.