title: Genetic and transcriptional organization of the region encoding the beta subunit of Bacillus subtilis RNA polymerase.
abstract: The gene encoding the beta subunit of Bacillus subtilis RNA polymerase was isolated from a lambda gt11 expression library using an antibody probe. Gene identity was confirmed by the similarity of its predicted product to the Escherichia coli beta subunit and by mapping an alteration conferring rifampicin resistance within the conserved rif coding region. Including the rif region, four colinear blocks of sequence similarity were shared between the B. subtilis and E. coli beta subunits. In E. coli, these conserved blocks are separated by three regions that either were not conserved or were entirely absent from the B. subtilis protein. The B. subtilis beta gene was part of a cluster with the order rplL (encoding ribosomal protein L7/L12), orf23 (encoding a 22,513-dalton protein that is apparently essential for growth), rpoB (beta), and rpoC (beta'). This organization differs from the corresponding region in E. coli by the inclusion of orf23. Experiments using promoter probe vectors and site-directed mutagenesis located a major rpoB promoter overlapping the 3'-coding region of orf23, 250 nucleotides upstream from the beta initiation codon. Thus, the B. subtilis rpoB region differs from its E. coli counterpart in both genetic and transcriptional organization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis 95616, USA.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Boor
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D015723:Gene Library; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases