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Journal of Bacteriology, February 1999, p. 849-857, Vol. 181, No. 3
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate Degradation in Rhizobium
(Sinorhizobium) meliloti: Isolation and Characterization of a Gene
Encoding 3-Hydroxybutyrate Dehydrogenase
P.
Aneja1 and
T. C.
Charles1,2,*
Department of Natural Resource Sciences,
McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada H9X
3V9,1 and
Department of Biology,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L
3G12
Received 26 August 1998/Accepted 23 November 1998
We have cloned and sequenced the 3-hydroxybutyrate
dehydrogenase-encoding gene (bdhA) from Rhizobium
(Sinorhizobium) meliloti. The gene has an open reading frame of
777 bp that encodes a polypeptide of 258 amino acid residues (molecular
weight 27,177, pI 6.07). The R. meliloti Bdh protein
exhibits features common to members of the short-chain
alcohol dehydrogenase superfamily. bdhA is the first gene
transcribed in an operon that also includes xdhA, encoding
xanthine oxidase/dehydrogenase. Transcriptional start site analysis by
primer extension identified two transcription starts. S1, a minor start
site, was located 46 to 47 nucleotides upstream of the predicted ATG
start codon, while S2, the major start site, was mapped 148 nucleotides
from the start codon. Analysis of the sequence immediately upstream of
either S1 or S2 failed to reveal the presence of any known consensus
promoter sequences. Although a
54 consensus sequence was
identified in the region between S1 and S2, a corresponding transcript
was not detected, and a rpoN mutant of R. meliloti was able to utilize 3-hydroxybutyrate as a sole carbon
source. The R. meliloti bdhA gene is able to confer upon Escherichia coli the ability to utilize 3-hydroxybutyrate
as a sole carbon source. An R. meliloti bdhA mutant
accumulates poly-3-hydroxybutyrate to the same extent as the wild type
and shows no symbiotic defects. Studies with a strain carrying a
lacZ transcriptional fusion to bdhA
demonstrated that gene expression is growth phase associated.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 3G1. Phone: (519) 888-4576, ext. 5606. Fax: (519) 746-0614. E-mail: tcharles{at}uwaterloo.ca.
Journal of Bacteriology, February 1999, p. 849-857, Vol. 181, No. 3
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
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