CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF 2 GENES FROM STAPHYLOCOCCUS-CARNOSUS CODINGFOR GLUCOSE SPECIFIC PTS AND THEIR EXPRESSION IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI K-12

Phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent phosphorylation experiments have i ndicated that the gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus carnosus poss esses an EIICBA fusion protein specific for glucose. Here we report th e cloning of a 7 kb genomic DNA fragment containing two genes, glcA an d glcB, coding for the glucose-specific PTS transporters EII(Glc)1 and EII(Glc)2 which are 69% identical. The translation products derived f rom the nucleotide sequence consist of 675 and 692 amino acid residues and have calculated molecular weights of 73 025 and 75 256, respectiv ely. Both genes can be stably maintained in Escherichia coli cells and restore the ability to ferment glucose to ptsG deletion mutants of E. coli. This demonstrates the ability of the PTS proteins HPr and/or EI IA(Glc) of a gram-negative organism (E. coli) to phosphorylate an EIIC BA(Glc) from a gram-positive organism (S. carnosus).