JB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yap, W. H.
Right arrow Articles by Wang, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yap, W. H.
Right arrow Articles by Wang, Y.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, September 1999, p. 5201-5209, Vol. 181, No. 17
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Distinct Types of rRNA Operons Exist in the Genome of the Actinomycete Thermomonospora chromogena and Evidence for Horizontal Transfer of an Entire rRNA Operon

Wai Ho Yap, Zhenshui Zhang, and Yue Wang*

Microbial Collection and Screening Laboratory, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117609

Received 1 February 1999/Accepted 9 May 1999

We describe here the presence of two distinct types of rRNA operons in the genome of a thermophilic actinomycete Thermomonospora chromogena. The genome of T. chromogena contains six rRNA operons (rrn), of which four complete and two incomplete ones were cloned and sequenced. Comparative analysis revealed that the operon rrnB exhibits high levels of sequence variations to the other five nearly identical ones throughout the entire length of the operon. The coding sequences for the 16S and 23S rRNA genes differ by approximately 6 and 10%, respectively, between the two types of operons. Normal functionality of rrnB is concluded on the basis of the nonrandom distribution of nucleotide substitutions, the presence of compensating nucleotide covariations, the preservation of secondary and tertiary rRNA structures, and the detection of correctly processed rRNAs in the cell. Comparative sequence analysis also revealed a close evolutionary relationship between rrnB operon of T. chromogena and rrnA operon of another thermophilic actinomycete Thermobispora bispora. We propose that T. chromogena acquired rrnB operon from T. bispora or a related organism via horizontal gene transfer.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, National University of Singapore, 30 Medical Dr., Singapore 117609. Phone: 65-7783207. Fax: 65-7791117. E-mail: mcbwangy{at}imcb.nus.edu.sg.

Journal of Bacteriology, September 1999, p. 5201-5209, Vol. 181, No. 17
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 1999 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.