THE QMEA (TS) MUTATION OF ESCHERICHIA-COLI IS LOCALIZED IN THE FABI GENE, WHICH ENCODES ENOYL-ACP REDUCTASE

The phenotypes of temperature-sensitive qmeA and fabI mutants of Esche richia coli appear to be very similar. Furthermore, the qmeA mutation could be complemented by the fabI gene on a plasmid, and the fabI alle le derived from the qmeA mutant strain harbours a nucleotide substitut ion identical to that from a previously characterized fabI mutant. The se results show that the qmeA gene is, in fact, identical to the fabI gene, which encodes enoyl-ACP reductase, involved in fatty acid elonga tion.