title: Conserved N-terminal sequences in the flagellins of archaebacteria.
abstract: Methanococcus voltae produces two flagellins of molecular weight 31,000 and 33,000. Amino acid analysis as well as peptide mapping with cyanogen bromide, chymotrypsin and Staphylococcus aureus V-8 protease indicates that the two flagellins are distinct. N-terminal sequencing of the 31,000 Mc. voltae flagellin as well as the 24,000 and 25,000 molecular weight flagellins of Methanospirillum hungatei GP1 shows an extensive homology with the reported N-terminus of the flagellins from Halobacterium halobium, deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the cloned genes. However, the N-termini of all three sequenced methanogen flagellins lack a terminal methionine and start at position 13 from the N-terminus of H. halobium flagellins. This initial 12 amino acid stretch may be a leader peptide which is subsequently cleaved to generate the mature flagellin, which could suggest flagellar assembly in archaebacteria occurs by a mechanism distinct from that in eubacteria. The high degree of conservation of the N-terminus of the flagellins from Mc. voltae, Msp. hungatei and H. halobium suggests an important role for this sequence, and that the archaebacteria share a common mechanism for flagellar biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Kalmokoff
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Karnauchow
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Jarrell
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005408:Flagellin / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010449:Peptide Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005408:Flagellin