The putative 4.5S RNA of Haemophilus influenzae was identified in the
genome by computer analysis, amplified by the polymerase chain reactio
n, and cloned. We have determined that this putative 4.5S RNA will com
plement an Escherichia coli strain conditionally defective in 4.5S RNA
production. The predicted secondary structures of the molecules were
quite similar, but Northern analysis showed that the H. influenzae RNA
was slightly larger than the E. coli RNA. The H. influenzae gene enco
ding this RNA is the functional homolog of the ffs gene in E. coli.