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. 1990 Dec;87(23):9454–9458. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.23.9454

Retron for the 67-base multicopy single-stranded DNA from Escherichia coli: a potential transposable element encoding both reverse transcriptase and Dam methylase functions.

M Y Hsu 1, M Inouye 1, S Inouye 1
PMCID: PMC55184  PMID: 1701261

Abstract

The region (retron-Ec67) required for the biosynthesis of a branched-RNA-linked multicopy single-stranded DNA (msDNA-Ec67) from a clinical isolate of Escherichia coli was mapped at a position equivalent to 19 min on the K-12 chromosome. The element containing the retron consisted of a unique 34-kilobase sequence that was flanked by direct repeats of a 26-base-pair sequence found in the K-12 chromosomal DNA. This suggests that the 34-kilobase element was probably integrated into the E. coli genome by a mechanism related to transposition or phage integration. In the 34-kilobase sequence an open reading frame of 285 residues was found, which displays 44% sequence identity with the E. coli Dam methylase. Interestingly, there are three GATC sequences, the site of Dam methylation, in the promoter region of the gene for reverse transcriptase.

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