Abstract

Some bacteria produce a satellite RNA-DNA complex termed msDNA, multicopy single-stranded DNA. In this report, msDNA from Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a cause of acute gastroenteritis, was identified and named msDNA-Vp96. The retron element containing the ret gene, encoding the reverse transcriptase (RT) that is responsible for msDNA production, was cloned and characterized. Comparison of msDNAVp96 and msDNA-Vc95, from Vibrio cholerae, showed a high level of sequence similarity. We exchanged the two ret genes to examine whether msDNA was produced by the RT from different sources. We found that RT-Vp96 of V. parahaemolyticus was able to synthesize msDNA-Vc95 of V. cholerae and vice versa. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that RT from different bacterial species can synthesize msDNA.

• Keywords: reverse transcriptase; msDNA; pathogenic bacteria; vibrios