NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE AND FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF REGULATORY REGION OF THE LUMP AND THE LUX OPERON FROM PHOTOBACTERIUM-LEIOGNATHI

The lumP gene is linked to the lux operon, but runs in the opposite di rection in Photobacterium leiognathi PL741. The gene order of the lumP and the lux operon is < -lumP-R & R-luxC-luxD-luxA-luxB-luxN-luxE- > (R & R: regulatory region). The nucleotide sequence of the regulatory region (827-bp) between the lumP and the lux: operon was determined. S equence analysis illustrates that the regulatory region includes two d ivergent promoter systems, P-R-promoter system for the lux operon (R-o peron) and P-L-promoter system for the lumP or lum operon (L-operon). Functional analysis of the regulatory region shows that the P-R- and P -L-promoter systems both are able to lead the gene expression. The del etion experiment result elicits that the P-R- and P-L-promoter are coo rdinatively and negatively regulated; the P-R- and P-L-promoter might be competing for recognition by RNA polymerase to initiate transcripti on. The fact of the LumP responsible for the spectral blue shift in P. leiognathi implied that the lumP gene closedly linked to the lux oper on is for coordinative regulation with the lux operon. In addition, th e glucose repression on the P-R-promoter system shows that the express ion of the lux operon is regulated by cAMP-CRP induction in E. coli. ( C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.