CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF THE DNAK OPERON OF BACILLUS-STEAROTHERMOPHILUS

Here, we report the cloning of a 5.8-kb PstI fragment of chromosomal D NA from Bacillus stearothermophilus (Bt) carrying the three genes, grp E, dnaK and dnaJ. This fragment contains, in addition, the 3'-end of a n open reading frame which has been shown to be part of the dnaK opero n in three bacterial species. The dnaJ gene could complement an Escher ichia coli dnaJts mutant for growth at high temperature. Sequencing an d hybridization data strongly suggest that the Bt chromosome contains an analog of dnaJ.