title: Molecular cloning and characterization of Borrelia burgdorferi rpoB.
abstract: Borrelia burgdorferi rpoB, the gene encoding the beta-subunit of RNA polymerase, has been cloned and sequenced. The full-length gene encodes a protein of 1154 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 129.8 kDa. The amino-acid sequence is 49% identical to the corresponding protein from Escherichia coli. B. burgdorferi rpoB is a component of a gene cluster, which includes rplJ, rplL and rpoC. A temperature-sensitive E. coli rpoB mutant could be complemented by introduction of the B. burgdorferi gene, indicating that the B. burgdorferi rpoB is expressed in E. coli and the beta-subunit can be assembled into functional holoenzyme. The wild-type amino-acid sequence of the B. burgdorferi beta-subunit is consistent with those of spontaneously arising rifampicin-resistant mutants of E. coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis at certain critical residues. This suggests that the natural resistance of B. burgdorferi to rifampicin may be due to the primary amino-acid sequence of its beta-subunit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, New York Medical College, Valhalla 10595, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alekshun
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kashlev
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D007438:Introns; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; C105078:RNA polymerase beta subunit