title: The Bacillus subtilis cell-division 135-137 degrees region contains an essential orf with significant similarity to murB and a dispensable sbp gene.
abstract: Sequence similarity analysis has revealed that orf2, in the cell division 135-137 degrees region of the Bacillus subtilis (Bs) chromosome, is the probable homolog of Escherichia coli murB (encoding a reductase involved in peptidoglycan synthesis). The amino-acid sequences of the two protein products show 24% identity (47% overall similarity), with several regions of higher similarity which may represent functional domains of the proteins. Attempts to insertionally inactivate orf2 were unsuccessful, strongly suggesting that it is an essential Bs gene. A small gene found in the same region as orf2, sbp (encoding the 'small basic protein'), was shown to be non-essential in Bs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rowland
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Errington
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Wake
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002237:Carbohydrate Dehydrogenases / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics; D010457:Peptidoglycan / Q000096:biosynthesis; D033902:Periplasmic Binding Proteins; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D010457:Peptidoglycan; D033902:Periplasmic Binding Proteins; C489040:sbp protein, E coli; C044773:sulfate-binding protein, bacteria; D002237:Carbohydrate Dehydrogenases; C023215:UDP-N-acetylmuramate dehydrogenase