Transposition of a bacterial insertion sequence in chloroplasts

Abstract

Bacterial transposable elements (IS elements, transposons) represent an important determinant of genome structure and dynamics, and are a major force driving genome evolution. Here, we have tested whether bacterial insertion sequences (IS elements) can transpose in a prokaryotic compartment of the plant cell, the plastid (chloroplast). Using plastid transformation, we have integrated different versions of the Escherichia coli IS element IS150 into the plastid genome of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants. We show that IS150 is faithfully mobilized inside the chloroplast, and that enormous quantities of transposition intermediates accumulate. As synthesis of the IS150 transposase is dependent upon programmed ribosomal frame shifting, our data indicate that this process also occurs in chloroplasts. Interestingly, all insertion events detected affect a single site in the plastid genome, suggesting that the integration of IS150 is highly sequence dependent. In contrast, the initiation of the transposition process was found to be independent of the sequence context. Finally, our data also demonstrate that plastids lack the capacity to repair double-strand breaks in their genomes by non-homologous end joining, a finding that has important implications for genome stability, and which may explain the peculiar immunity of the plastid to invading promiscuous DNA sequences of nuclear and mitochondrial origin. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.