0000000000762879
AUTHOR
Claudia Nitsche
The IStron CdISt1 of Clostridium difficile: molecular symbiosis of a group I intron and an insertion element
Abstract The IStron CdISt1 was first discovered as an insertion into the tcdA gene of the clinical isolate C34. It combines structural and functional properties of a group I intron at its 5′-end with those of an insertion element at its 3′-end. Up to date four different types could be found, mainly differing in their IS-element portions. Contrasting classical group I introns, CdISt1 is always integrated in ORFs encoding bacterial protein. In case CdISt1 had only the IS-element function such insertion would inactivate the protein encoded by the host gene. It is only due to the self-splicing activity of the group I intron parts that CdISt1 integration does not abolish protein function. Both e…
Clostridium difficile IStron CdISt1: Discovery of a Variant Encoding Two Complete Transposase-Like Proteins
ABSTRACT Screening a Clostridium difficile strain collection for the chimeric element Cd ISt1 , we identified two additional variants, designated Cd ISt1 -0 and Cd ISt1 -III. In in vitro assays, we could prove the self-splicing ribozyme activity of these variants. Structural comparison of all known Cd ISt1 variants led us to define four types of IStrons that we designated Cd ISt1 -0 through Cd ISt1 -III. Since Cd ISt1 -0 encodes two complete transposase-like proteins (TlpA and TlpB), we suggest that it represents the original genetic element, hypothesized before to have originated by fusion of a group I intron and an insertion sequence element.