Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the Bartonella bacilliformis gene: alaS and leuS, which encode aminoacyl tRNA synthetases; pyrF, which encodes orotidine 5' monophosphate decarboxylase; and txpA, an ABC transporter-like protein similar to the Agrobacterium tumefaciens chvA gene

Abstract

Biosynthetic genes, putatively identified as pyrf, alas and leus and the putative transport gene txpa, have been cloned and sequenced from the gram negative, hemotrophic, flagellated bacterium Barionella bacilliformis. The functions of the genes were predicted by comparison of their derived protein sequences to those of proteins with known functions found in the GCG sequence database. A protein sequence alignment of txpa provides data which suggests that B. bacilliformis is closely related to the plant bacterium A. tumefaciens as previously reported by M. NEnnick (27). A physical NotIlSfil map demonstrates that pyrf maps to a 50-kb NotIlNotl fragment and leus maps to a 354-kb NotIlNoll fragment. alas and bgga, which are on the same DNA fragment, have not been localized. Sequence analyses of DNA surrounding each of these genes indicate that none are located in clusters with related genes of similar function. The lack of a toxin-associated gene adjacent to txpa, and the close identity with chva, indicate that txpa probably is a glucan exporter. Further study will provide greater insight into the mechanisms of each of the biochemical functions coded by these genes.