Sy. Ghim et al., MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF PYRIMIDINE BIOSYNTHESIS GENES FROM THE THERMOPHILE BACILLUS-CALDOLYTICUS, Microbiology, 140, 1994, pp. 479-491
The genes encoding the six pyrimidine biosynthesis enzymes from the th
ermophile Bacillus caldolyticus were characterized by cloning and comp
lementation in Escherichia coli, and by nucleotide sequence analysis.
Nine cistrons are clustered within an 11 kb region of the chromosome.
the gene order being: orf1-pyrB-pyrC-pyrAa-pyrAb-orf2-pyrD-pyrF-pyrE.
This organization of the cluster is very similar to that of the pyr op
eron of Bacillus subtilis. Different parts of the B. caldolyticus clus
ter were cloned in two orientations in the expression shuttle vector p
HPS9. Complementation studies in B. subtilis established that expressi
on of the pyr genes was dependent on the vector-borne promoter, sugges
ting that they are part of an operon, and that the native promoter of
the operon had not been cloned. The deduced amino acid sequence of the
individual cistrons showed 49 to 78% identity with the corresponding
B. subtilis cistrons. Measurements of the aspartate transcarbamylase (
pyrB), orotidine monophosphate decarboxylase (pyrF) and orotate phosph
oribosyl transferase (pyrE) levels in cells grown under different cond
itions indicated that expression of the operon is repressed 7-9-fold b
y addition of uracil to the growth medium. Based on the nucleotide seq
uence in the intercistronic region between orf1 and pyrB a regulatory
mechanism involving transcriptional termination and antitermination is
proposed to control expression of the operon.