ISR1: An Insertion Element Isolated from the Soil Bacterium Rhizobium lupini

The insertion element ISR1 was isolated from the soil bacterium R. lupini. In this strain, ISR1 shows a very strong affinity to plasmid RP4. It causes RP4 mutations at the strikingly high frequency of 10(-2) to 10(-1), either by the integration itself or by generating deletions. In E. coli, ISR1 seems to be inactive. No evidence could be obtained for a promoter site on ISR1 or for an ISR1-encoded protein. Our results indicate, however, an ISR1-specific termination signal for either transcription or translation.