Sequence of the putative alanine racemase operon in Staphylococcus aureus: insertional interruption of this operon reduces D-alanine substitution of lipoteichoic acid and autolysis.
A gene cluster comprising the alanine racemase gene alr was identified 5' to the sigB operon in Staphylococcus aureus. It is flanked upstream by four ORFs of which one shows similarity to the dpj gene of Escherichia coli, and downstream by two ORFs of which the last shows similarity to the E. coli pemK gene. Preliminary data suggest that the seven ORFs orf1-orf2-orf3-dpj-alr-orf6-pemK may form an operon. Disruption of the proposed operon by insertional mutagenesis leads to a drastic loss in the d-alanine (d-Ala) substitution of lipoteichoic acid and to delayed autolysis, without affecting the d-Ala substitution of the wall teichoic acid.
Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Zürich, Gloriastr. 32, 8028, Zürich, Switzerland. ines.kullik-stax@eu.pnu.com
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Kullik
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Jenni
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Berger-Bächi
D000409:Alanine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000411:Alanine Racemase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D009876:Operon; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
D017931:DNA Primers; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D013682:Teichoic Acids; C009900:lipoteichoic acid; D000411:Alanine Racemase; D000409:Alanine