A new steroid-inducible gene of Comamonas testosteroni: cloning and sequence analysis

CABRERA JULIO E; PANZETTA-DUTARI GRACIELA; PRUNEDA-PAZ JL; GENTI DE RAIMONDI SUSANA

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 1997 vol. 63 p. 91 - 91

omamonas testosteroni can grow on a variety of steroid compounds as the sole carbon and energy source. In a previous study, we cloned and sequenced the testosterone-inducible flhsd gene from C. testosteroni (Genti-Raimondi, S., Tolmasky, M., Patrito, L., Flury, A. and Actis, L., Molecular cloning and expression of the fl-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase gene from Pseudomonas testosteronL Gene, 1991, 105, 43-49.). Herein we report the cloning and characterization of another steroid-inducible gene (stdC), located 2400 bp upstream of flhsd. Nucleotide sequencing of a region encompassing the stdC gene revealed an open reading frame 546 bp long including the stop codon TGA with significant similarity to the orf4, orfl and orf4 of unknown function described in the polyhydroxyalkanoic acid (PHA) duster of Chromatium vinosum, Rhizobium meliloti and Thiocystis violacea, respectively. The aminoacid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence predicts a putative protein of 181 amino acid