SEQUENCING OF RAPD FRAGMENTS AMPLIFIED FROM THE GENOME OF THE PROKARYOTE PROCHLOROCOCCUS-MARINUS (PROCHLOROPHYTA)

DNA fingerprint patterns from the chlorophyll a and b containing proka ryote Prochlorococcus marinus were generated with the RAPD technique u sing two primers derived from repetitive sequence motifs, [(GATA)(4) a nd M13] and a random primer (OPB-10]. Five RAPD fragments were reampli fied, cloned and sequenced. The clones M13/1300 and OPB-10/1100 contai ned open reading frames, whereas the (GATA)4 fragments were interrupte d by stop codons in all frames indicating their noncoding function and possessed a high AT score of 63% and 71%, respectively. With the two (GATA)4 clones and the M13/300 clone strain-specific signals were obta ined in a Southern blot analysis of various Prochlorococcus strains. C lones M13/1300 and OPB-10/1100, containing the ORFs, produced RFLPs be tween the strains analyzed. All RAPD fragments are represented as sing le copy in the genome of Prochlorococcus.