The RuvABC Holliday Junction Processing System Is Not Required for IS 26 -Mediated Targeted Conservative Cointegrate Formation

Abstract

In Gram-negative bacteria, the contribution of IS 26 to the spread of antibiotic resistance and other genes that provide cells with an advantage under specific conditions far exceeds that of any other known insertion sequence. This is likely due to the unique mechanistic features of IS 26 action, particularly its propensity to cause deletions of adjacent DNA segments and the ability of IS 26 to use two distinct reaction modes for cointegrate formation.