Abstract

Homologous sequences placed in inverse order at particular separated sites in the bacterial chromosome (termed "permissive") can recombine to form an inversion of the intervening chromosome segment. When the same repeated sequences flank other chromosome segments ("non-permissive"), recombination occurs but the expected inversion rearrangement is not found among the products. The failure to recover inversions of non-permissive chromosomal segments could be due to lethal effects of the final rearrangement. Alternatively, local chromosomal features might pose barriers to reciprocal exchanges between sequences at particular sites and could thereby prevent formation of inversions of the region between such sites. To distinguish between these two possibilities, we have constructed inversions of two non-permissive intervals by means of phage P22-mediated transduction crosses. These crosses generate inversions by simultaneous incorporation of two transduced fragments, each with a sequence that forms one join-point of the final inversion. We constructed inversions of the non-permissive intervals trp ('34) to his ('42) and his ('42) to cysA ('50). Strains with the constructed inversions are viable and grow normally. These results show that our previous failure to detect formation of these inversions by recombination between chromosomal sequences was not due to lethal effects of the final rearrangement. We infer that the "non-permissive" character of some chromosomal segments reflects the inability of the recombination system to perform the needed exchanges between inverse order sequences at particular sites. Apparently these mechanistic problems were circumvented by the transductional method used here to direct inversion formation.