Detection of a functional insertion sequence responsible for deletion of the thermostable direct hemolysin gene (tdh) in Vibrio parahaemolyticus

The thermostable direct hemolysin coded by the tdh gene is a marker of virulent strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The tdh genes are flanked by insertion sequences collectively named as ISVs or their remnants; but the ISVs so far examined have accumulated mutations in the transposase genes and underwent structural arrangements and their transposition activity could not be expected; the tdh gene was thus considered to have been acquired by V. parahaemolyticus through horizontal transfer in the past during evolution. We recently isolated from the same patient tdh(+) strains and a tdh(-) strain (PCR examination) that were otherwise indistinguishable. The purpose of this study was to examine the hypothesis that the tdh(-) strain was derived from the tdh(+) strain by a deletion of the tdh gene mediated by a functional ISV. Southern blot hybridization showed tdh(+) sequences in the tdh(-) strain (PSU-1466). Nucleotide sequence analysis of the tdh and its flanking sequences revealed the tdh gene was split into two parts and they were located 3182-bp apart in PSU-1466. The two tdh sequences were flanked by one of the ISVs, named as ISVpa3, in PSU-1466. This genetic structure could be explained by an ISVpa3-mediated partial tdh deletion from a tdh(+) strain followed by transposition of the duplicated ISVpa3 and the deleted tdh sequence into a neighboring location. The ISVpa3 of PSU-1466 coded for a full-length transposase and a DDE motif. We were able to demonstrate transposition activity of the ISVpa3 cloned from PSU-1466 using the replicon fusion assay with the conjugal transfer of a cointegrate from Escherichia coli to V. parahaemolyticus. Our data support ISVpa3-mediated partial tdh deletion resulted in the emergence of the tdh(-) strain.