Cloning and transcriptional analysis of the Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus strain 39E maltose ABC transport system.
Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus strain 39E is a Gram-positive thermophile that converts sugars resulting from plant carbohydrate polymer degradation into ethanol. A putative maltose ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transport operon was isolated with genes encoding for the integral membrane components (malF and malG); the ATP-binding protein (malK); and a partial gene for the maltose-binding protein (malE). This operon is unlike most other maltose transport operons, which do not contain a contiguous malK gene. Sequence analysis showed that the individual genes in the putative operon possessed a considerable range of similarities to their respective homologs in other eubacteria and archaea. MalK had 52% amino-acid identity and over 70% similarity with its homolog from the archaeon Thermococcus litoralis, while the membrane components and binding protein exhibited much less similarity with a range of other thermophilic eubacteria. Transcript was not detected in maltose-, glucose-, or xylose-grown cells using Northern blotting, but RT-PCR showed that malFGK were expressed in cells grown on maltose or xylose. Based on these results, the strain 39E maltose operon may be subject to glucose catabolite repression.
Jones
Chris R
CR
212 W.P. Garrigus Building, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546-5318, USA.
Ray
Myrna
M
Strobel
Herbert J
HJ
D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003013:Clostridium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017931:DNA Primers; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D008320:Maltose / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D017931:DNA Primers; D008320:Maltose