Whole-Genome Identification and Characterization of Bacterial Insertion Sequences Using Bioinformatic Tools.

Insertion sequences are small mobile regions of DNA (transposable elements) found primarily in prokaryotes. The identification of insertion sequences in bacteria is a growing field of study because of their applications in evolution, genetics, and medicine. One of the first steps in characterizing the insertion sequences found in an organism is to perform a genome-wide survey to identify all insertion sequences using in silico methods. This includes a thorough scan of the genome to locate all copies of different families of insertion sequences and the identification of the key characteristics of each element. The results provide an extensive catalog of the insertion sequences which can be used to further other analyses or manipulation of the genome.