SYSTEMATIC SEQUENCING OF THE 283 KB 210-DEGREES-232-DEGREES REGION OFTHE BACILLUS-SUBTILIS GENOME CONTAINING THE SKIN ELEMENT AND MANY SPORULATION GENES

As part of the Bacillus subtilis genome sequencing project, we have de termined a 283 kb contiguous sequence from 210 degrees to 232 degrees of the B. subtilis genome. This region contains the 48 kb skin element which is excised during sporulation by a site-specific recombinase. I n this region, 310 complete ORFs and one tRNA gene were identified: 66 ORFs have been sequenced and characterized previously by other worker s, e.g. acc, ans, bfm, blt, bmr, comE, comG, dnaK, rpoD and sin operon s; cwlA, gpr and lysA genes; many sporulation genes and operons, spoOA , spoIIA, spoIIIM, spoIIP, spoIIIA, spoIIIC, spoIVB, spoIVCA, spoIVCB and spoVA, etc. The products of 84 ORFs were found to display signific ant similarity to proteins with known function in data banks, e.g., pr oteins involved in nucleotide metabolism, lipid biosynthesis, amino ac id transport (ABC transporter), phosphate-specific transport, the glyc ine cleavage system, the two-component regulatory system, cell wall au tolysis, ferric uptake and sporulation. However, the functions of more than half of the ORFs (52%, 160 ORFs) are still unknown. In the skin element containing 60 ORFs, 32 ORFs (53%) encode proteins which have s ignificant homology to gene products of the B. subtilis temperate phag e phi 105 and/or the defective phage PBSX.