A PYROPHOSPHATE SYNTHASE GENE - MOLECULAR-CLONING AND SEQUENCING OF THE CDNA-ENCODING THE INORGANIC PYROPHOSPHATE SYNTHASE FROM RHODOSPIRILLUM-RUBRUM

The integrally membrane-bound, proton-pumping inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) synthase in phototrophic bacteria is hitherto the only described alternative to the ATP synthase in biological electron transport phos phorylation. We have identified and sequenced the first gene coding fo r a pyrophosphate synthase. The deduced protein contains 660 amino aci d residues and 15 putative membrane-spanning segments. It is homologou s to the vacuolar pyrophosphatases from plants. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.