BACTERIAL FLAVOHAEMOGLOBINS - A CONSENSUS SEQUENCE AND IDENTIFICATIONOF A DISCRETE ENTEROBACTERIAL GROUP AND OF FURTHER BACTERIAL GLOBINS

The amino acid sequences of haemoglobin-like proteins from the bacteri a Alcaligenes eutrophus, Bacillus subtilis, Erwinia chrysanthemi, Esch erichia coli, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vitreoscilla sp. and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were studied. Phylogenies based on distance a nd parsimony analysis showed that the eubacterial group can be easily distinguished from the other haemoglobin-like proteins. The constructi on of a consensus bacterial flavohaemoglobin based on the alignment of six bacterial and one yeast globins allowed the design of consensus p rimers to search for haemoglobin-like genes in other bacteria. PCR pro ducts of the expected size were;found in Campylobacter jejuni, Salmone lla typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, Rhizobium leguminosarum, Kleb siella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.