Molecular cloning and sequence analysis of the proBA operon from an extremely thermophilic eubacterium Thermus thermophilus.

A 3.6 kb DNA fragment carrying the Thermus thermophilus proBA region, which encodes the first two steps in the proline biosynthetic pathway, was cloned from the Thermus thermophilus gene library, and its complete nucleotide sequence was determined. The deduced amino acid sequence of gamma-glutamyl kinase (40,657 Da), the product of proB gene, and gamma-glutamyl phosphate reductase (48,747 Da), the product of proA gene, showed 44.1% and 44.4% identity to those of Escherichia coli, respectively. The termination codon of the proB gene and the initiation codon of the proA gene overlapped by 2 bp. A possible transcriptional termination structure was found downstream of the proA gene but not downstream of the proB gene. These results indicate that the proBA genes of T. thermophilus form a single operon as in E. coli.