Rlh. Lim et al., ISOLATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND EXPRESSION OF THE GENE ENCODING CYTIDINE TRIPHOSPHATE SYNTHETASE FROM GIARDIA-INTESTINALIS, Molecular and biochemical parasitology, 78(1-2), 1996, pp. 249-257
The cytidine triphosphate synthetase gene from Giardia intestinalis wa
s cloned using a PCR-based strategy. A 519 bp PCR product was obtained
from the amplification of genomic DNA using two oligonucleotides deri
ved from the CTP synthetase amino acid consensus sequences DPYINVDPG a
nd KTKPTQ. This product was used to probe restriction endonuclease dig
ested genomic DNA and the respective plasmid mini-libraries. Two genom
ic clones were obtained one with a 3.6 kb HindIII DNA fragment, contai
ning approximately three-quarters of the 5'-end of the synthetase gene
and subsequently, a 5.8 kb PstI DNA fragment which contained the whol
e gene. The intronless gene has a 1863 bp open reading frame encoding
620 amino acids (M(r) of 68.3 kDa). A well conserved catalytic glutami
ne aminotransferase (GAT) domain was identified. In addition, three in
sert sequences were found which are not present in CTP synthetase from
other species. Alignment and comparison of the deduced amino acid seq
uence relative to CTP synthetases from other species revealed a high d
egree of identity (34%) with a greater resemblance to prokaryotes than
eukaryotes. The gene is located on chromosome 6 and the messenger RNA
encoding it is estimated to be 1.9 kb. The coding region of G. intest
inalis CTP synthetase was generated by PCR and subsequently cloned int
o the pQE30 vector for expression in E. coli. This construct yielded a
soluble and enzymatically active recombinant protein which was purifi
ed by a Ni-NTA affinity column. The purified recombinant protein had a
subunit molecular weight of 69.5 kDa and a native molecular weight of
approximately 274 kDa. Kinetic studies of the partially purified reco
mbinant G. intestinalis CTP synthetase gave apparent K-m values of 0.1
mM and approximately 0.5 mM for the substrates UTP and L-glutamine re
spectively in accord with previously reported values for the native en
zyme.