Investigating the Trans Effects of IS1 Transposases on Intragenomic DNA Movements in Escherichia coli

By dissecting and quantitating the roles of transcriptional and translational controls in transposase production, our study reveals that post-transcriptional regulation via ribosomal frameshifting is the central mechanism governing IS1 intragenomic transposition. Our findings demonstrate that IS1 transposases function in trans, mediating the movement of DNA segments specifically bordered by its inverted repeat at the left end and right end sequences. These findings advance our comprehension of how IS elements mobilize within bacterial genomes and provide potential strategies to counter IS1-mediated antibiotic resistance in clinical bacterial isolates.