Insertion sequence

A particular insertion sequence may be named according to the form ISn, where n is a number (e.g. IS1, IS2, IS3, IS10, IS50, IS911, IS26 etc.); this is not the only naming scheme used, however.

Composition

These proteins are usually the transposase which catalyses the enzymatic reaction allowing the IS to move, and also one regulatory protein which either stimulates or inhibits the transposition activity. The coding region in an insertion sequence is usually flanked by inverted repeats. For example, the well-known IS911 (1250 bp) is flanked by two 36bp inverted repeat extremities and the coding region has two genes partially overlapping orfA and orfAB, coding the transposase (OrfAB) and a regulatory protein (OrfA).

In addition to occurring autonomously, insertion sequences may also occur as parts of composite transposons. In a composite transposon, two insertion sequences flank one or more accessory genes, such as an antibiotic resistance gene (e.g. Tn10, Tn5). Nevertheless, there exist another sort of transposons, called unit transposons, that do not carry insertion sequences at their extremities (e.g. Tn7).

A complex transposon does not rely on flanking insertion sequences for resolvase. The resolvase is part of the tns genome and cuts at flanking inverted repeats.