[Study on transposition behavior of IS5376 in Bacillus stearothermophilus]

IS5376 and IS5377 are two transposable elements discovered in Bacillus stearothermophilus. Analysis of random samples revealed that the frequency of transposition of IS5376 from CU21 chromosome to plasmids pFDC5 and pFDC12 was much higher at 65 degrees C than that at 48 degrees C while that of IS5377 was very low at both 48 degrees C and 65 degrees C. The exact nature of the temperature effect is obscure at present from evidences obtained so far it is concluded that this is a consequence of the innate property of IS5376. Furthermore, it was found that a certain degree of site specificity in transposition was evident and that a direct repeat of 4 or 5 bp of the target DNA appeared at the site of transposition.