MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF THE F-PLASMID TRAVR REGION - TRAV ENCODES A LIPOPROTEIN

The nucleotide sequences of the conjugative F plasmid transfer region genes, traV and traR, have been determined. The deduced amino acid seq uence of TraV indicated that it may be a lipoprotein; this was confirm ed by examining the effect of globomycin on traV-encoded polypeptides synthesized in minicells. An open reading frame that may represent a p reviously undetected transfer gene, now designated trbG, was identifie d immediately upstream of traV. The deduced product of traR was found to share amino acid similarity with proteins from the bacteriophages 1 86 and P2 and with the dosage-dependent dnak suppressor DksA.