Characterization of a novel insertion sequence, IS1194, in Streptococcus thermophilus

A novel insertion sequence, IS1194, has been identified in the lactic acid bacterium Streptococcus thermophilus CNRZ368. This 1200-bp element has 16-bp imperfect terminal inverted repeats. The single large open reading frame of this element encodes a 332-amino-acid protein that displays similarities with transposases encoded by bacterial insertion sequences belonging to the IS5 group of the IS4 family. A single copy of IS1194 was detected by hybridization in only 2 of the 19 S. thermophilus strains tested and in 4 of the 13 Lactococcus lactis strains investigated. This suggests that this IS element was acquired by horizontal transfer. The unique IS1194 copy of S. thermophilus CNRZ368 is located in a region of at least 12 kb that was probably acquired by horizontal transfer from L. lactis. Furthermore, the IS1194 right end is identical to sequences found in a broad-host-range conjugative plasmid from Streptococcus pyogenes, pSM19035.