Although a plasmid carrying long palindromic sequence can multiply in E. coli recB recC sbcB recF, it gets a deletion in the palindrome during the multiplicaiton. This deletion occurs at a specific small inverted repeat sequence present in the palindrome. Though the sequence specificity of the inverted repeat used for the deletion is not yet understood, more than four nucleotides seem to be recognized. The frequency of the deletion is higher when the sensitive small inverted repeat presents nearer to the junction of the palindrome to the vector plasmid.
