IS204: an insertion sequence from Nocardia asteroides (mexicana) YP21

An insertion sequence was found in Nocardia asteroides YP21. The element, designated IS204, is 1452 bp long and has 19/23 bp imperfect inverted repeats at its ends. The sequences of IS204 terminal inverted repeats have high homology with those of IS1096 from Mycobacterium smegmatis. An 8-bp duplication of target sequence was found at the insertion site. Sequence analysis revealed that IS204 contains an open reading frame of 1134 bp, which encodes a putative transposase similar to those found in IS1096 and in Tn4652 from Pseudomonas sp. EST1001. At least nine copies of IS204 are present in the genome of N asteroides YP21. The plasmid pCY 104::IS204 could be inserted with another copy of IS204 at a different site. The possible mechanisms are discussed.