Figure 8. A proposed model for duplication of the FPI.
(A) In an ancestral genome similar to F. novicida U112, the FPI was present as a single copy. (B) Insertion of copies of the ISFtu1 element adjacent to the present FPI, and adjacent to a second rRNA operon, enabled (C) duplication of the FPI by non-reciprocal recombination. (D) The two copies of the region have been inherited by all accepted F. tularensis subspecies.