CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF THE GENE ENCODING ALPHA-ACETOLACTATE DECARBOXYLASE FROM LEUCONOSTOC-OENOS

The alsD gene encoding alpha-acetolactate decarboxylase was isolated f rom a genomic library of Leuconostoc oenos, using a screening procedur e developed on microtiter plates. The nucleotide sequence of also enco des a putative protein of 239 amino acids showing significant similari ty with other bacterial alpha-acetolactate decarboxylases. Upstream fr om also lies an open reading frame (alsS) which is highly similar to b acterial genes coding for catabolic a-acetolactate synthases. Northern (RNA) blotting analyses indicated the presence of a 2.4-kb dicistroni c transcript of alsS and also. This suggests that the alsS and also ge nes are organized in a single operon.