NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE OF THE STAPHYLOCOCCUS-AUREUS RNA-POLYMERASE RPOB GENE AND COMPARISON OF ITS PREDICTED AMINO-ACID-SEQUENCE WITH THOSE OFOTHER BACTERIA

The complete nucleotide sequence of the rpoB gene which encodes the be ta subunit of S. aureus RNA polymerase has been determined. The RpoB p rotein, consists of 1182 amino acids and has a novel initiation codon UUG which initiates protein synthesis with methionine. There is a very strong Shine-Dalgarno complementarity and the -10 and -35 promoter he xameric sequences are TAATAT and CCGTTT, respectively. A rho-dependent termination site, CAATCAA, is present which overlaps the -35 promoter sequence of the adjacent rpoC gene a feature which may have a role in the co-ordinate expression of the two genes. A strong homology and co nserved legions were found to exist over the predicted amino acid sequ ences coding for S. aureus rpoB and the equivalent proteins in Escheri chia coli. Pseudomonas putida, Salmonella typhimurium, Chlamydia trach omatis, cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120.