SEQUENCE OF THE LUXD GENE ENCODING ACYLTRANSFERASE OF THE LUX OPERON FROM PHOTOBACTERIUM-LEIOGNATHI

The nucleotide sequence of luxD (EMBL accession No. X6561 1), encoding acyltransferase (ACT), of the lux operon from Photobacterium leiognat hi PL741 was determined, and the amino acid (aa) sequence was deduced. ACT is a component of the fatty acid reductase complex, which is resp onsible for converting fatty acid to aldehyde that serves as the subst rate in the luciferase-catalyzed bioluminescent reactions. The protein has a calculated M(r) of 34384 and comprises 305 aa residues. Alignme nt and comparison of the ACT of P. leiognathi with that of Vibrio fisc heri ATCC7744, V. harveyi B392 and Xenorhabdus luminescens Hm shows th at there is 66%, 59% and 61 % aa identity, respectively.