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. 1983 Mar;153(3):1432–1438. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.3.1432-1438.1983

Evolution of complex resistance transposons from an ancestral mercury transposon.

M Tanaka, T Yamamoto, T Sawai
PMCID: PMC221794  PMID: 6298184

Abstract

The molecular interrelationship of a transposon family which confers multiple antibiotic resistance and is assumed to have been generated from an ancestral mercury transposon was analyzed. Initially, the transposons Tn2613 (7.2 kilobases), encoding mercury resistance, and Tn2608 (13.5 kilobases), encoding mercury, streptomycin, and sulfonamide resistances, were isolated and their structures were analyzed. Next, the following transposons were compared with respect to their genetic and physical maps: Tn2613 and Tn501, encoding mercury resistance; Tn2608 and Tn21, encoding mercury, streptomycin, and sulfonamide resistance; Tn2607 and Tn4, encoding streptomycin, sulfonamide, and ampicillin resistance; and Tn2603, encoding mercury, streptomycin, sulfonamide, and ampicillin resistance. The results suggest that the transposons encoding multiple resistance were evolved from an ancestral mercury transposon.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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