Possible mechanism for the generation of diverse non-autonomous and autonomous elements of the Tn3 transposon family.

The elements of the Tn3 family originate from progenitor insertion sequences (IS). Tns – diverse autonomous non-composite or composite transposons generated by acquisition of foreign DNA and mobilization for transposition of genomic DNA results. TIME - non-autonomous elements resulting from a reduction in the number of transposon-encoded genes, able to form mosaic elements resembling non-composite and composite Tns in structure. Elements representative of the different types are shown as examples: IS1071 (accession no. M65135), Tn3434 (accession no. AY232820), Tn5393 (accession no. M96392), TnPpa1 (accession no. DQ149577) and Tn5271 (accession no. U18133).