title: Nucleotide sequence of the recF gene cluster from Staphylococcus aureus and complementation analysis in Bacillus subtilis recF mutants.
abstract: We have determined the nucleotide sequence of a 3.5 kb segment in the recF region of the Staphylococcus aureus chromosome. The gene order at this locus, dnaA-dnaN-recF-gyrB is similar to that found in the replication origin region of many other bacteria. S. aureus RecF protein (predicted molecular mass 42.3 kDa), has 57% amino acid sequence identity with the Bacillus subtilis RecF protein (42.2 kDa), but only 26% with the Escherichia coli RecF protein (40.5 kDa). We have shown that the S. aureus recF gene partially complements the defect of a B. subtilis recF mutant, but does not complement an E. coli recF strain. The amino acid sequence alignment of seven available RecF proteins (five of them from bacteria of gram-negative origin) allowed us to identify eight highly conserved regions (alpha to theta) and to predict five new conserved regions within the gram-positive group (a to f). We suggest that the basic mechanism of homologous recombination is conserved among free-living bacteria.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C489340:recF protein, E coli; C066218:recF protein, Bacteria