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Journal of Bacteriology, June 1999, p. 3857-3859, Vol. 181, No. 12
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Fused and Overlapping rpoB and rpoC Genes in Helicobacters, Campylobacters, and Related Bacteria

Natalya Zakharova,1,2 Bruce J. Paster,3 Irene Wesley,4 Floyd E. Dewhirst,3 Douglas E. Berg,5,6 and Konstantin V. Severinov1,2,*

Waksman Institute1 and Department of Genetics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey2, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854; Forsyth Dental Center, Boston, Massachusetts 021153; National Animal Disease Center, USDA-ARS, Ames, Iowa 500104; and Departments of Molecular Microbiology5 and Genetics,6 Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110

Received 3 March 1999/Accepted 14 April 1999

The genes coding for the beta  (rpoB) and beta ' (rpoC) subunits of RNA polymerase are fused in the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori but separate in other taxonomic groups. To better understand how the unique fused structure evolved, we determined DNA sequences at and around the rpoB-rpoC junction in 10 gastric and nongastric species of Helicobacter and in members of the related genera Wolinella, Arcobacter, Sulfurospirillum, and Campylobacter. We found the fusion to be specific to Helicobacter and Wolinella genera; rpoB and rpoC overlap in the other genera. The fusion may have arisen by a frameshift mutation at the site of rpoB and rpoC overlap. Loss of good Shine-Dalgarno sequences might then have fixed the fusion in the Helicobacteraceae, even if fusion itself did not confer a selective advantage.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Waksman Institute, 190 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854. Phone: (732) 445-6095. Fax: (732) 445-5735. E-mail: severik{at}waksman.rutgers.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 1999, p. 3857-3859, Vol. 181, No. 12
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.




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