IS1626, a new IS900-related Mycobacterium avium insertion sequence.

An insertion sequence designated IS1626 was isolated and characterized from a Mycobacterium avium clinical strain. IS1626 was detected by high-stringency hybridization with the pMB22/S12 probe from IS900 of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis. IS1626 is 1418 bp in size and has a G+C content of 65 mol%. It has neither terminal inverted repeats nor flanking direct repeats. Analysis of three IS1626 insertion sites in the M. avium strain and the corresponding potential insertion sites in two IS1626-free M. avium strains indicated a consensus sequence of CATGCN(4-5)TCCTN(2)G for IS1626 insertion. In the three clones examined, IS1626 has the same orientation with respect to this target site. IS1626 has two major ORFs. ORF1179 encodes a predicted protein of 393 amino acids. ORF930, on the complementary strand of ORF1179, encodes a protein of 310 amino acids. The Shine-Dalgarno sequence for ORF930 is partially located in the flanking region, similar to other IS900-related elements. Analysis of the comparable features of insertion sequences and their variable occurrence in related organisms is useful for studying the evolution of these elements and their hosts.