title: Identification of the Bradyrhizobium japonicum degP gene as part of an operon containing small heat-shock protein genes.
abstract: A degP (htrA)-like gene of Bradyrhizobium japonicum was identified immediately downstream of two genes (hspB and hspC) coding for small heat-shock proteins. All three genes are oriented in the same direction and are separated by only 85 and 72 bp, and a heat-inducible transcript covering hspB, hspC, and degP was detected by RT-PCR. These results show that the genes are organized in an operon. Two mutants, a degP insertion mutant and a DeltahspBCdegP mutant, were constructed by marker replacement mutagenesis. Immunoblot analysis performed with a serum raised against the amino-terminal end of IbpA, an HspB homolog of Escherichia coli, identified three heat-inducible protein bands in B. japonicum extract, one of which was missing in the deletion mutant. None of the mutants showed an obvious defect during growth at different temperatures, after heat-shock treatment, or in the presence of solvents. Moreover, they were not affected in root-nodule symbiosis, indicating that the small heat-shock proteins HspB and HspC and the DegP homolog of B. japonicum are not required under a wide range of growth conditions.
authors.affiliation: Mikrobiologisches Institut, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH-Zentrum, Schmelzbergstrasse 7, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland. fnarber@micro.biol.ethz.ch
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Narberhaus
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Weiglhofer
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hennecke
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009586:Nitrogen Fixation; D009876:Operon; D033903:Periplasmic Proteins; D012231:Rhizobium / Q000235:genetics*; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D033903:Periplasmic Proteins; C061682:DegP protease; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases