Skip Navigation


DNA Research Advance Access originally published online on February 22, 2006
DNA Research 2005 12(6):389-401; doi:10.1093/dnares/dsi021
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Supplementary data
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
12/6/389    most recent
dsi021v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kawai, M.
Right arrow Articles by Kobayashi, I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kawai, M.
Right arrow Articles by Kobayashi, I.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Kazusa DNA Research Institute
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Genome Comparison In Silico in Neisseria Suggests Integration of Filamentous Bacteriophages by their Own Transposase

Mikihiko Kawai1,2,3, Ikuo Uchiyama4 and Ichizo Kobayashi1,2,5,*

1Department of Medical Genome Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Science, The University of Tokyo Japan
2Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan
3Division of Pathology, Immunology and Microbiology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo Japan
4Research Center for Computational Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences Nishigonaka 38, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan
5Graduate Program in Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo Japan

We have identified filamentous prophages, Nf (Neisserial filamentous phages), during an in silico genome comparison in Neisseria. Comparison of three genomes of Neisseria meningitidis and one of Neisseria gonorrhoeae revealed four subtypes of Nf. Eleven intact copies are located at different loci in the four genomes. Each intact copy of Nf is flanked by duplication of 5'-CT and, at its right end, carries a transposase homologue (pivNM/irg) of RNaseH/Retroviral integrase superfamily. The phylogeny of these putative transposases and that of phage-related proteins on Nfs are congruent. Following circularization of Nfs, a promoter-like sequence forms. The sequence at the junction of these predicted circular forms (5'-atCTtatat) was found in a related plasmid (pMU1) at a corresponding locus. Several structural variants of Nfs—partially inverted, internally deleted and truncated—were also identified. The partial inversion seems to be a product of site-specific recombination between two 5'-CTtat sequences that are in inverse orientation, one at its end and the other upstream of pivNM/irg. Formation of internally deleted variants probably proceeded through replicative transposition that also involved two 5'-CTtat sequences. We concluded that the PivNM/Irg transposase on Nfs integrated their circular forms into the chromosomal 5'-CT-containing sequences and probably mediated the above rearrangements.

Key words: transposase; filamentous bacteriophage; integration; prophage; genome comparison

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel. +81-3-5449-5326, Fax. +81-3-5449-5422, E-mail: ikobaya{at}ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Communicated by Kenta Nakai


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
C. Schoen, J. Blom, H. Claus, A. Schramm-Gluck, P. Brandt, T. Muller, A. Goesmann, B. Joseph, S. Konietzny, O. Kurzai, et al.
Whole-genome comparison of disease and carriage strains provides insights into virulence evolution in Neisseria meningitidis
PNAS, March 4, 2008; 105(9): 3473 - 3478.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.