摘要

Eight genes (atpI, atpB, atpE(1), atpE(2), atpE(3), atpF(4), atpH, and atpA) upstream of and contiguous with the previously described genes atpG, atpD, and atpC were cloned from chromosomal DNA of Acetobacterium woodii. Northern blot analysis revealed that the eleven atp genes are transcribed as a polycistronic message, The atp operon encodes the Na+-F1F0-ATPase of A. woodii, as evident from a comparison of the biochemically derived N termini of the subunits with the amino acid sequences deduced from the DNA sequences. The molecular analysis revealed that all of the F1F0-encoding genes from Escherichia coli have homologs in the Na+-F1F0-ATPase operon from A. woodii, despite the fact that only six subunits were found in previous preparations of the enzyme from A. woodii. These results unequivocally prove that the Na+-ATPase from A. woodii is an enzyme of the F1F0 class. Most interestingly, the gene encoding the proteolipid underwent quadruplication. Two gene copies (atpE(2) and atpE(3)) encode identical 8-kDa proteolipids. Two additional gene copies were fused to form the atpE(1) gene. Heterologous expression experiments as well as immunolabeling studies with native membranes revealed that atpE(1) encodes a duplicated 18-kDa proteolipid. This is the first demonstration of multiplication nd fusion of proteolipid-encoding genes in F1F0-ATPase operons, Furthermore, AtpE(1) is the first duplicated proteolipid ever found to be encoded by an F1F0-ATPase operon.

  • 出版日期1999-11-26

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