Nucleotide sequence and structural organization of an insertion sequence element (IS231) from Bacillus thuringiensis strain berliner 1715

This paper describes the structural organization of a repetitive DNA sequence isolated from plasmids of Bacillus thuringiensis strain berliner 1715. DNA sequence analysis of this repetitive sequence (RS) revealed all the characteristic features of an insertion sequence (IS). This 1656-bp element is delineated by two 20-bp inverted repeats which are flanked by two 11-bp direct repeats. A long open reading frame spans almost the entire sequence and is preceded by potential transcriptional and translational signals. A structural homology was observed between this RS and the Escherichia coli IS4 element in the length of their direct repeats, the sequence of their inverted repeats and the sequence of their putative transposases. These data strongly suggest that this sequence is an authentic insertion sequence. Therefore the name IS231 is proposed for this first Bacillus IS element. Further relationships with other known IS sequences were also found and are discussed.