CLONING AND FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF THE PMMA GENE ENCODING PHOSPHOMANNOMUTASE FROM THE PHOTOSYNTHETIC PROKARYOTE PROCHLOROTHRIX-HOLLANDICA

The pmmA gene encoding a bifunctional phosphomannomutase/phosphoglucom utase (PMM/PGM) from the photosynthetic prokaryote, Prochlorothrix hol landica has been cloned and sequenced. The gene encodes a 51 827 Da po lypeptide 48% identical to the PMM of Azospirillum brasilense, 37% ide ntical to the PGMs of pathogenic Neisseria sp. and 37% identical to th e bifunctional AlgC PGM/PMM of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The pmmA gene e ncodes an enzyme having both PGM and PMM activities as judged by both enzyme assays and complementation analysis in which the cloned gene pa rtially corrected the pgm-l mutation of Escherichia coli.