Abstract
Only 10–20% of natural Escherichia coli strains can catabolize the pentitol sugars ribitol and D-arabitol1. This variability extends to common laboratory strains: E. coli C strains, but neither K12 nor B strains, can catabolize these sugars. In E. coli C, the genes responsible for these catabolic pathways are chromosomal and consist of two very closely linked, independent operons2. Genetic1 and hybridization studies (C.D.L. and A.M.R., unpublished data) indicate that the genes are completely absent in K12. These observations led us to consider whether these genes had been acquired by horizontal, rather than vertical, genetic transmission, perhaps as an inserted transposable element. Here we report that the ribitol-arabitol genes of E. coli C are surrounded by 1.4 kilobase (kb) inverted repeats of imperfect homology. These genes may constitute an example of a vestigial transposable element recently acquired by the bacterial chromosome.
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Link, C., Reiner, A. Inverted repeats surround the ribitol–arabitol genes of E. coli C. Nature 298, 94–96 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/298094a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/298094a0
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