TRANS ACTIVATION OF THE ESCHERICHIA-COLI ATO STRUCTURAL GENES BY A REGULATORY PROTEIN FROM BACILLUS-MEGATERIUM - POTENTIAL USE IN POLYHYDROXYALKANOATE PRODUCTION

A Bacillus megaterium,? genomic fragment, which encoded an activator h omologous to sigma(54) regulators and which was capable of activating Escherichia coli ato genes in trans was detected in a gene library of B. megaterium screened for beta-ketothiolase activity. The fragment pr esented only one complete open reading frame (ORF1), which encoded a p rotein of 398 amino acids. The recombinant plasmid complemented mutati ons in the Escherichia coil atoC regulatory gene. The constitutive exp ression of the E, coli aro operon mediated by ORF1 could be useful for the synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates with different flexibility pro perties by recombinant E, coli strains.