PHYLOGENETIC-RELATIONSHIPS OF BACTERIA BASED ON COMPARATIVE SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS OF ELONGATION-FACTOR TU AND ATP-SYNTHASE BETA-SUBUNIT GENES

Comparative sequence analyses were performed on 14 genes encoding bact erial elongation factors EF-Tu and 7 genes encoding the beta-subunit o f bacterial F1F0 type ATP-synthases. The corresponding predicted amino acid sequences were compared with published primary structures of hom ologous molecules. Phylogenetic trees were reconstructed from both dat a sets of aligned protein sequences and from an equivalent selection o f 16S rRNA sequences by applying distance matrix and maximum parsimony methods. The EF-Tu data were in very good agreement with the rRNA dat a, although the resolution within the EF-Tu tree was reduced at certai n phylogenetic levels. The resolution power of the ATPase beta-subunit sequence data were more reduced than those of the EF-Tu data. In comp arison with the 16S rRNA tree there are minor differences in the order of adjacent branchings within the ATPase beta-subunit tree.