On the participation of RecB in the induction of mini-Tn10 precise excision in a dnaB thermosensitive mutant

Precise excision of transposons Tn10 and mini-Tn10 is increased in the dnaB252 thermosensitive mutant of Escherichia coli K12, at the permissive temperature. DNA repair proteins like Pol II, RecF, Ruv and RecA were found to participate, to different extents, in this induced excision event. In this work we report that DNA repair-recombination protein RecBCD has a predominant role in this deletion process. The role of this and other repair proteins in DNA replication of the dnaB mutant in relation to the excision of the transposon is analyzed.