Studies on the microorganisms used in food production are of interest because microbial genotypes are reflected in food qualities such as taste, flavor, and yield. However, several microbes are nonmodel organisms, and their analysis is often limited by the lack of genetic tools. Tetragenococcus halophilus, a halophilic lactic acid bacterium used in soy sauce fermentation starter culture, is one such microorganism. The lack of DNA transformation techniques for T. halophilus makes gene complementation and disruption assays difficult. Here, we report that the endogenous insertion sequence ISTeha4, belonging to the IS4 family, is translocated at an extremely high frequency in T. halophilus and causes insertional mutations at various loci. We developed a method named targeting spontaneous insertional mutations in genomes (TIMING), which combines high-frequency insertional mutations and efficient PCR screening, enabling the isolation of gene mutants of interest from a library. The method provides a reverse genetics and strain improvement tool, does not require the introduction of exogenous DNA constructs, and enables the analysis of nonmodel microorganisms lacking DNA transformation techniques. Our results highlight the important role of insertion sequences as a source of spontaneous mutagenesis and genetic diversity in bacteria. IMPORTANCE Genetic and strain improvement tools to manipulate a gene of interest are required for the nontransformable lactic acid bacterium Tetragenococcus halophilus. Here, we demonstrate that an endogenous transposable element, ISTeha4, is transposed into the host genome at an extremely high frequency. A genotype-based and non-genetically engineered screening system was constructed to isolate knockout mutants using this transposable element. The method described enables a better understanding of the genotype-phenotype relationship and serves as a tool to develop food-grade-appropriate mutants of T. halophilus.
Keywords: Tetragenococcus halophilus; food; insertion sequence; reverse genetics; strain improvement.