NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE AND PROPERTIES OF THE INVERTED REPEATED ELEMENT OF BORDETELLA-PERTUSSIS

The repeated sequence from Bordetella pertussis chromosome was cloned using the method described by Ohtsubo. The sequences of the characteri zed B. pertussis chromosome am homologous to the previously described sequences and analogous in the structure to the already known IS eleme nts. The parental recombinant plasmids containing the RS were unstable and segregated to the plasmids of different structure. The segregants ' structure is characterized in this paper. It is shown in our study t hat the RS element is able to stimulate intragenomic rearrangements, s uch as deletions. It is shown that at least one deletion begins precis ely after 3' end of RS and terminates with the sequence which is compl etely homologous to ten terminal nucleotides of this one. Probably, RS s stimulate at high frequency the formation of deletions, which appear to be the result of recA-independent site-specific recombination betw een short direct repeats.