Transposition of plasmid-borne Tn10 elements does not exhibit simple length-dependence

Abstract

The transposition frequencies of Tn10 elements from the bacterial chromosome to an F epitome decrease 40% for every kilobase increase in transposon length. The basis for this relationship is not known. We have now examined complemented transposition of defective Tn10 elements off small multicopy plasmids. We find that length dependence in this situation is either reduced or absent, depending on the specific class of transposition events involved. These observations can be interpreted as evidence against the model that chromosomal length dependence occurs because of decay of a transposition-associated replicative complex. This interpretation is consistent with unrelated experiments suggesting that Tn10 transposition is normally nonreplicative. Alternative explanations of length dependence phenomena are discussed.