Abstract

A new site-specific recombinase sin, as a component of a putative transposon has been cloned and its base sequence has been determined. The proposed sin shows a high degree of homology with pI9789-sin and pSK1-sin. There is a large (16 bp) inverted repeat downstream of proposed sin and the postulate dhelix-turn-helix motif is located at the extreme C-terminus of the proposed Sin. The transposase gene (tnpA) and β-lactamase gene (blaZ) are located upstream of sin and arsenate reductase gene (arsC) and arsenic efflux pump protein gene (ars B) are downstream. This genetic arrangement seems to be a part of a new putative transposon because there is no known transposon with a gene arrangement of tnpA-blaZ-sin-arsC.

• Keywords: DNA invertase; sin; site-specific recombinase; staphylococcal transposon