Cloning of phoE, the structural gene for the Escherichia coli phosphate limitation-inducible outer membrane pore protein.

The hybrid plasmid pLC44-11 from the Clarke and Carbon collection, which was known to carry the proA gene, was shown also to contain the phoE gene. In vitro recombination techniques were used to subclone a 4.9-kilobase-pair DNA fragment of pLC44-11 into the plasmid vectors pACYC184 and pBR322. Expression of this fragment in a minicell system showed that it codes for the PhoE protein and for polypeptides with apparent molecular weights of 47,000 and 17,000. These results supply definite proof for the earlier supposition that the phoE gene is the structural gene for the outer membrane PhoE protein. Overproduction of the PhoE protein in a phoS strain resulted in reduced amounts of OmpF and LamB proteins.