Threonine deaminase from a nonsense mutant of Escherichia coli requiring isoleucine or pyridoxine: evidence for half-of-the-sites reactivity.

The mutant IP7 of Escherichia coli B requires isoleucine or pyridoxine for growth as a consequence of a mutation in the gene coding for biosynthetic threonine deaminase. The mutation of IP7 was shown to be of the nonsense type by the following data: (1) reversion to isoleucine prototrophy involves the formation of external suppression at a high frequency, as shown by transduction experiments; and (ii) the isoleucine requirement is suppressed by lysogenization with a phage carrying the amber suppressor su-3. Cell extracts of the mutant strain contain a low activity of threonine deaminase. The possibility that this activity is biodegradative was ruled out by kinetic experiments. The mutant threonine deaminase was purified to homogeneity by conventional procedures. The enzyme is a dimer of identical subunits of an approximate molecular weight of 43,000 (Grimminger and Feldner, 1974), whereas the wild-type enzyme is a tetramer of 50,000-dalton subunits (Calhoun et al., 1973; Grimminger et al., 1973). The mutant enzyme is not inhibited by isoleucine and does not bind isoleucine, as shown by equilibrium dialysis experiments. Pyridoxal phosphate enhances the maximum catalytic activity of the mutant enzyme by a factor of five, whereas the wild-type enzyme is not affected. In wild-type and mutant threonine deaminase the ratio of protein subunits and bound pyridoxal phosphate is 2:1. The activation of threonine deaminase from strain IP7 is due to a second coenzyme binding site, as shown by (i) spectrophotometric titration of the enzyme with pyridoxal phosphate and by (ii) measurement the pyridoxal phosphate content of the enzyme after sodium borohydride reduction of the protein. The observation of one pyridoxal phosphate binding site per peptide dimer in the wild-type enzyme and of two binding sites per dimer in the mutant strongly suggests that one of the potential sites in the wild-type enzyme is masked by allosteric effects. The factors responsible for the half-of-the-sites reactivity of the coenzyme sites appear to be nonoperative in the mutant protein.     

An efficient approach to identify ilvA mutations reveals an amino-terminal catalytic domain in biosynthetic threonine deaminase from Escherichia coli.

High-level expression of the regulatory enzyme threonine deaminase in Escherichia coli strains grown on minimal medium that are deficient in the activities of enzymes needed for branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis result in growth inhibition, possibly because of the accumulation of toxic levels of alpha-ketobutyrate, the product of the committed step in isoleucine biosynthesis. This condition affords a means for selecting genetic variants of threonine deaminase that are deficient in catalysis by suppression of growth inhibition. Strains harboring mutations in ilvA that decreased the catalytic activity of threonine deaminase were found to grow more rapidly than isogenic strains containing wild-type ilvA. Modification of the ilvA gene to introduce additional unique, evenly spaced restriction enzyme sites facilitated the identification of suppressor mutations by enabling small DNA fragments to be subcloned for sequencing. The 10 mutations identified in ilvA code for enzymes with significantly reduced activity relative to that of wild-type threonine deaminase. Values for their specific activities range from 40% of that displayed by wild-type enzyme to complete inactivation as evidenced by failure to complement an ilvA deletion strain to isoleucine prototrophy. Moreover, some mutant enzymes showed altered allosteric properties with respect to valine activation and isoleucine inhibition. The location of the 10 mutations in the 5' two-thirds of the ilvA gene is consistent with suggestions that threonine deaminase is organized functionally with an amino-terminal domain that is involved in catalysis and a carboxy-terminal domain that is important for regulation.     

Properties of an Escherichia coli mutant deficient in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase catalytic activity.

A mutant Escherichia coli (Ppcc-) which was unable to grow on glucose as a sole carbon source was isolated. This mutant had very low levels of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity (approximately 5% of the wild type). Goat immunoglobulin G prepared against wild-type phosphoenolypyruvate carboxylase cross-reacted with the Ppcc- enzyme. The amount of enzyme protein in the mutant cells was similar to that found in wild-type cells, but it had greatly diminished specific activity. The catalytically less active mutant enzyme retained the ability to interact with fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, but did not exhibit stabilization of the tetrameric form by aspartate. The pI of the mutant protein was lower (4.9) than that of the wild-type protein (5.1). After electrophoresis and immunoblotting of the partially purified protein, several immunostaining bands were seen in addition to the main enzyme band. A novel method for showing that these bands represented proteolytic fragments of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase was developed.     

Isolation of a Bacillus stearothermophilus mutant exhibiting increased thermostability in its restriction endonuclease.

A procedure was developed for the selection of spontaneous mutants of Bacillus stearothermophilus NUB31 that are more efficient than the wild type in the restriction of phage at elevated temperatures. Inactivation studies revealed that two mutants contained a more thermostable restriction enzyme and one mutant contained three times more enzyme than the wild type. The restriction endonucleases from the wild type and one of the mutants were purified to apparent homogeneity. The mutant enzyme was more thermostable than the wild-type enzyme. The subunit molecular weight, amino acid composition, N-terminal and C-terminal amino acid residues, tryptic peptide map, and catalytic properties of the two enzymes were determined. The two enzymes have similar catalytic properties, but the molecular size of the mutant enzyme is approximately 6 to 7 kilodaltons larger than that of the wild-type enzyme. The mutant enzyme contains 54 additional amino acid residues, of which 26 to 28 are aspartate/asparagine, 8 to 15 are glutamate/glutamine, and 8 to 9 are tyrosine residues. The two enzymes contained similar amounts of the other amino acids, identical N-terminal residues, and different C-terminal residues. Tryptic peptide analyses revealed a high degree of homology between the two enzymes. The increased thermostability observed in the mutant enzyme appears to have been achieved by a mutation that resulted in the addition of amino acid residues to the wild-type enzyme. A number of mechanisms are discussed that could account for the observed difference between the mutant and wild-type enzymes.     

Pyruvate carboxylase is a major bottleneck for glutamate and lysine production by Corynebacterium glutamicum

Corynebacterium glutamicum possesses both phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCx) and pyruvate carboxylase (PCx) as anaplerotic enzymes for growth on carbohydrates. To analyze the significance of PCx for the amino acid production by this organism, the wild-type pyc gene, encoding PCx, was used for the construction of defined pyc-inactive and pyc-overexpressing strains and the glutamate, lysine and threonine production capabilities of these recombinant strains of C. glutamicum were tested in comparison to the respective host strains. No PCx activity was observed in the pyc-inactive mutants whereas the pyc-overexpressing strains showed eight-to elevenfold higher specific PCx activity when compared to the host strains. In a detergent-dependent glutamate production assay, the pyc-overexpressing strain showed more than sevenfold higher, the PCx-deficient strain about twofold lower glutamate production than the wild-type. Overexpression of the pyc gene and thus increasing the PCx activity in a lysine-producing strain of C. glutamicum resulted in approximately 50% higher lysine accumulation in the culture supernatant whereas inactivation of the pyc gene led to a decrease by 60%. In a threonine-producing strain of C. glutamicum, the overexpression of the pyc gene led to an only 10 to 20% increase in threonine production, however, to a more than 150% increase in the production of the threonine precursor homoserine. These results identify the anaplerotic PCx reaction as a major bottleneck for amino acid production by C. glutamicum and show that the enzyme is an important target for the molecular breeding of hyperproducing strains.     

Chloroplast intragenic suppression enhances the low CO2/O2 specificity of mutant ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

The competition between CO2 and O2 at the active site of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase limits net CO2 fixation in photosynthesis. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a mutation in the chloroplast large-subunit gene reduces the CO2/O2 specificity of the enzyme by 37% and causes valine-331 to be replaced by alanine. Revertant selection identified an intragenic suppressor mutation that increases the CO2/O2 specificity of the mutant enzyme by 33%. This second-site mutation causes threonine-342 to be replaced by isoleucine. The complementing amino acid substitutions flank a catalytically essential lysyl residue at position 334. It thus appears that a number of amino acid residues can influence the CO2/O2 specificity of this bifunctional enzyme. The well defined chloroplast genetics of C. reinhardtii allows the interactions of these residues to be investigated.     

Structural studies of mutants of the lysozyme of bacteriophage T4. The temperature-sensitive mutant protein Thr157----Ile

To understand the roles of individual amino acids in the folding and stability of globular proteins, a systematic structural analysis of mutants of the lysozyme of bacteriophage T4 has been undertaken. The isolation, characterization, crystallographic refinement and structural analysis of a temperature-sensitive lysozyme in which threonine 157 is replaced by isoleucine is reported here. This mutation reduces the temperature of the midpoint of the reversible thermal denaturation transition by 11 deg.C at pH 2.0. Electron density maps showing differences between the wild-type and mutant X-ray crystal structures have obvious features corresponding to the substitution of threonine 157 by isoleucine. There is little difference electron density in the remainder of the molecule, indicating that the structural changes are localized to the site of the mutation. High-resolution crystallographic refinement of the mutant lysozyme structure confirms that it is very similar to wild-type lysozyme. The largest conformational differences are in the gamma-carbon of residue 157 and in the side-chain of Asp159, which shift 1.0 A and 1.1 A, respectively. In the wild-type enzyme, the gamma-hydroxyl group of Thr157 participates in a network of hydrogen bonds. Substitution of Thr157 with an isoleucine disrupts this set of hydrogen bonds. A water molecule bound in the vicinity of Thr155 partially restores the hydrogen bond network in the mutant structure, but the buried main-chain amide of Asp159 is not near a hydrogen bond acceptor. This unsatisfied hydrogen-bonding potential is the most obvious reason for the reduction in stability of the temperature-sensitive mutant protein.     

Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase-coding gene of Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC13032

As a first step in determining the importance of the anaplerotic function of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) in amino acid biosynthesis, the ppc gene coding for PEPC of Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC13032 has been cloned by complementation of an Escherichia coli ppc mutant strain. PEPC activity encoded by the cloned gene is not affected by acetyl-CoA under conditions where the E. coli enzyme is strongly activated, whereas acetyl-CoA is able to relieve inhibition by L-aspartate used singly or in combination with alpha-ketoglutarate. Amplification of the ppc gene in a C. glutamicum lysine-excreting strain resulted in increased PEPC-specific activity and lysine productivity. The nucleotide sequence of a DNA fragment of 4885 bp encompassing the ppc gene has been determined. At the amino acid level, PEPC from C. glutamicum presents overall a high degree of similarity with corresponding enzymes from three different organisms. The location of some strictly conserved regions may have important implications for PEPC activity and allostery.     

Characterization of a mutation affecting the function of Escherichia coli folylpolyglutamate synthetase-dihydrofolate synthetase and further mutations produced in vitro at the same locus

The folC gene from mutant strain SF4 was cloned into a pUC19 plasmid. Expression of the mutant gene from the lac promoter of the plasmid complemented the auxotrophy for methionine of the SF4 strain. The only difference in sequence between the mutant and wild-type genes was a G925A base change resulting in an A309T amino acid change. The mutant enzyme had a 30-fold higher Km for 10-formyltetrahydrofolate as well as a 60-fold higher Km for glutamate and a 200-fold higher Km for dihydropteroate of the dihydrofolate synthetase activity. Site-specific mutagenesis was used to substitute other amino acids at codon 309. Mutants with glycine, isoleucine, and valine substitutions at this position, when expressed from multicopy plasmids, complemented the SF4 strain. The glycine mutant had properties similar to the wild-type enzyme, whereas the isoleucine and valine mutants had properties similar to the threonine mutant, SF4. Mutant genes with arginine, glutamate, and leucine substitutions, which did not complement the SF4 strain, could complement a folC deletion strain, but produced smaller colonies on complex plates and did not grow on minimal medium. In the deletion strain, an increasing requirement for folate product supplements was observed as the folylpolyglutamate synthetase-dihydrofolate synthetase activities of the complementing mutants decreased.     

Enzymes of the Isoleucine-Valine Pathway in Acinetobacter

Regulation of four of the enzymes required for isoleucine and valine biosynthesis in Acinetobacter was studied. A three- to fourfold derepression of acetohydroxyacid synthetase was routinely observed in two different wild-type strains when grown in minimal medium relative to cells grown in minimal medium supplemented with leucine, valine, and isoleucine. A similar degree of synthetase derepression was observed in appropriately grown isoleucine or leucine auxotrophs. No significant derepression of threonine deaminase or transaminase B occurred in either wild-type or mutant cells grown under a variety of conditions. Three amino acid analogues were tested with wild-type cells; except for a two- to threefold derepression of dihydroxyacid dehydrase when high concentrations of aminobutyric acid were added to the medium, essentially the same results were obtained. Experiments showed that threonine deaminase is subject to feedback inhibition by isoleucine and that valine reverses this inhibition. Cooperative effects in threonine deaminase were demonstrated with crude extracts. The data indicate that the synthesis of isoleucine and valine in Acinetobacter is regulated by repression control of acetohydroxyacid synthetase and feedback inhibition of threonine deaminase and acetohydroxyacid synthetase.     

Function of Escherichia coli biotin carboxylase requires catalytic activity of both subunits of the homodimer

Biotin carboxylase catalyzes the ATP-dependent carboxylation of biotin and is one component of the multienzyme complex acetyl-CoA carboxylase that catalyzes the first committed step in fatty acid synthesis. The Escherichia coli biotin carboxylase is readily isolated from the other components of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase complex such that enzymatic activity is retained. The three-dimensional structure of biotin carboxylase, determined by x-ray crystallography, demonstrated that the enzyme is a homodimer consisting of two active sites in which each subunit contains a complete active site. To understand how each subunit contributes to the overall function of biotin carboxylase, we made hybrid molecules in which one subunit had a wild-type active site, and the other subunit contained an active site mutation known to significantly affect the activity of the enzyme. One of the two genes encoded a poly-histidine tag at its N terminus, whereas the other gene had an N-terminal FLAG epitope tag. The two genes were assembled into a mini-operon that was induced to give high level expression of both enzymes. "Hybrid" dimers composed of one subunit with a wild-type active site and a second subunit having a mutant active site were obtained by sequential chromatographic steps on columns of immobilized nickel chelate and anti-FLAG affinity matrices. In vitro kinetic studies of biotin carboxylase dimers in which both subunits were wild type revealed that the presence of the N-terminal tags did not alter the activity of the enzyme. However, kinetic assays of hybrid dimer biotin carboxylase molecules in which one subunit had an active site mutation (R292A, N290A, K238Q, or E288K) and the other subunit had a wild-type active site resulted in 39-, 28-, 94-, and 285-fold decreases in the activity of these enzymes, respectively. The dominant negative effects of these mutant subunits were also detected in vivo by monitoring the rate of fatty acid biosynthesis by [(14)C]acetate labeling of cellular lipids. Expression of the mutant biotin carboxylase genes from an inducible arabinose promoter resulted in a significantly reduced rate of fatty acid synthesis relative to the same strain that expressed the wild type gene. Thus, both the in vitro and in vivo data indicate that both subunits of biotin carboxylase are required for activity and that the two subunits must be in communication during enzyme function.     

The location of a temperature-sensitive trans-dominant mutation and its effect on restriction and modification in Escherichia coli K12

An Escherichia coli K12 chromosomal EcoRI-BamHI fragment containing a mutant hsdS locus was cloned into plasmid pBR322. The mcrB gene, closely linked to hsdS, was used for selection of clones with the inserted fragment using T4 alpha gt57 beta gt14 and lambda vir. PvuII phages; the phage DNAs contain methylated cytosines and hence can be used to demonstrate McrB restriction. For the efficient expression of the hsdS gene, a BglII fragment of phage lambda carrying the pR promoter was inserted into the BamHI site of the hybrid plasmid. Under these conditions a trans-dominant effect of the hsdXts+d mutation on restriction and modification was detected. Inactivation of the hsdS gene by the insertion of the lambda phage BglII fragment into the BglII site within this gene resulted in the disappearance of the trans-dominant effect. When the cloned BamHI-EcoRI fragment was shortened by HpaI and EcoRI restriction enzymes, the trans-dominant effect was fully expressed. The results indicate that the Xts+d mutation is located in the hsdS gene. The effect of gene dosage of the HsdS subunit on the expression of Xts+d mutation was studied. The results of complementation experiments, using F'-merodiploids or plasmid pBR322 with an inserted Xts+d mutation, support the idea that the HsdSts+d product competes with the wild-type HsdS product, and has a quantitatively different effect on restriction and modification.     

RFLP of the X chromosome-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase locus in blacks.

The X chromosome-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) A(+) variant is found in approximately 20% of blacks. Examination of the structure of the G6PD A(+) gene revealed that AT----GC transition occurred in the variant gene, resulting in the amino acid substitution Asn----Asp at the one hundred forty-second position from the NH2-terminal of the enzyme (Takizawa and Yoshida 1987). The nucleotide change created an additional FokI cleavage site in the variant A(+) gene; thus, the FokI fragment type of the variant A(+) DNA differs from that of the normal B(+) DNA. PvuII fragment type is also found to be polymorphic in blacks, but not in Caucasians. The majority of blacks, as well all nonblacks, have a major hybridization-positive fragment of approximately 4.0 kbp (PvuII type 1), while approximately 20% of blacks have a major fragment of approximately 1.5 kbp (PvuII type 2). The G6PD gene with PvuII type 2 contains an additional PvuII cleavage site approximately 0.7 kbp downstream from the mutation site of the G6PD A(+). Approximately 40% of the G6PD A(+) genes have PvuII type 2, while only approximately 10% of the G6PD B(+) genes are associated with PvuII type 2. The data indicate a statistically significant (X2 = 6.85, P less than .020) linkage disequilibrium between the G6PD types and the PvuII types at the G6PD locus.     

Expression of the Escherichia coli catabolic threonine dehydratase in Corynebacterium glutamicum and its effect on isoleucine production.

The catabolic or biodegradative threonine dehydratase (E.C. 4.2.1. 16) of Escherichia coli is an isoleucine feedback-resistant enzyme that catalyzes the degradation of threonine to alpha-ketobutyrate, the first reaction of the isoleucine pathway. We cloned and expressed this enzyme in Corynebacterium glutamicum. We found that while the native threonine dehydratase of C. glutamicum was totally inhibited by 15 mM isoleucine, the heterologous catabolic threonine dehydratase expressed in the same strain was much less sensitive to isoleucine; i.e., it retained 60% of its original activity even in the presence of 200 mM isoleucine. To determine whether expressing the catabolic threonine dehydratase (encoded by the tdcB gene) provided any benefit for isoleucine production compared to the native enzyme (encoded by the ilvA gene), fermentations were performed with the wild-type strain, an ilvA-overexpressing strain, and a tdcB-expressing strain. By expressing the heterologous catabolic threonine dehydratase in C. glutamicum, we were able to increase the production of isoleucine 50-fold, whereas overexpression of the native threonine dehydratase resulted in only a fourfold increase in isoleucine production. Carbon balance data showed that when just one enzyme, the catabolic threonine dehydratase, was overexpressed, 70% of the carbon available for the lysine pathway was redirected into the isoleucine pathway.     

Temperature-sensitive mutant of Bacillus subtilis glutamine synthetase obtained by random mutation

Random mutations were introduced into the B. subtilis glutamine synthetase gene by using nitrous acid, and a high temperature-sensitive mutant was selected. DNA sequencing of the restriction fragment containing the mutation revealed a single base-pair change resulting in the substitution of Leu 318 with Phe. The mutant enzyme was purified, and its kinetic and physical properties were characterized. The Mg2(+)-dependent activity and Mg2+ plus Mn2(+)-dependent activity of the mutant were less than 5% of those of the wild-type at 37 degrees C, and these activities decreased above 15 degrees C, whereas the Mn2(+)-dependent activity was nearly normal. Affinity of the mutant enzyme for glutamate was extremely decreased although the Km values for NH3 or ATP were almost the same as those of the wild-type. The mutant enzyme was more susceptible than the wild-type enzyme to digestion with chymotrypsin in the presence of glutamate, ATP, and Mg2+, although addition of glutamate, ATP, and Mn2+ completely protected both enzymes. These results and circular dichroism analyses suggested that Leu 318 is at the glutamate-binding site and that the substitution of Leu 318 for Phe reduces the ability of the enzyme to form the enzyme-substrate complex, probably supported by Mg2+.     

Enzymatic activity of poliovirus RNA polymerases with mutations at the tyrosine residue of the conserved YGDD motif: isolation and characterization of polioviruses containing RNA polymerases with FGDD and MGDD sequences.

The poliovirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (3Dpol) shares a region of homology with all RNA polymerases, centered around the amino acid motif YGDD, which has been postulated to be involved in the catalytic activity of the enzyme. Using oligonucleotide site-directed mutagenesis, we substituted the tyrosine at this motif of the poliovirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase with cysteine, histidine, isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine, or serine. The enzymes were expressed in Escherichia coli, and in vitro enzyme activity was tested. The phenylalanine and methionine substitutions resulted in enzymes with activity equal to that of the wild-type enzyme. The cysteine substitution resulted in an enzyme with approximately 50% of the wild-type activity, while the serine substitution resulted in an enzyme with approximately 10% of the wild-type activity; the isoleucine and histidine substitutions resulted in background levels of enzyme activity. To assess the effects of the mutants in viral replication, the mutant polymerase genes were subcloned into the infectious cDNA clone of poliovirus. Transfection of poliovirus cDNA containing the phenylalanine mutation in 3Dpol gave rise to virus in all of the transfection trials, while cDNA containing the methionine mutation resulted in virus in only 3 of 40 transfections. Transfection of cDNAs containing the other substitutions at the tyrosine residue did not result in infectious virus. The recovered viruses demonstrated kinetics of replication similar to those of the wild-type virus, as measured by [3H]uridine incorporation at either 37 or 39 degrees C. RNA sequence analysis of the 3Dpol gene of both viruses demonstrated that the tyrosine-to-phenylalanine or tyrosine-to-methionine mutation was still present. No other differences in the 3Dpol gene between the wild-type and phenylalanine-containing virus were found. The virus containing the methionine mutation also contained two other nucleotide changes from the wild-type 3Dpol sequence; one resulted in a glutamic acid-to-aspartic acid change at amino acid 108 of the polymerase, and the other resulted in a C-to-T base change at nucleotide 6724, which did not result in an amino acid change. To confirm that the second amino acid mutation found in the 3Dpol gene of the methionine-substituted virus allowed for replication ability, a mutation corresponding to the glutamic acid-to-aspartic acid change was made in the polymerase containing the methionine substitution, and this double-mutant polymerase was expressed in E. coli. The double-mutant enzyme was as active as the wild-type enzyme under in vitro assay conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Role for Free Isoleucine or Glycyl-Leucine in the Repression of Threonine Deaminase in Escherichia coli

In Escherichia coli, the three branched-chain amino acid activating enzymes appear to be essential for multivalent repression of the isoleucine- and valine-forming enzymes. The results of experiments with a mutant, strain CU18, having an altered threonine deaminase, indicate that free isoleucine and some form of threonine deaminase (the product of the ilvA gene) are also involved in multivalent repression. This strain exhibits abnormally high derepressibility but normal repressibility of its ilv gene products, and its threonine deaminase is inhibited only by high concentrations of isoleucine. In strain CU18, the isoleucine analogue, thiaisoleucine, is incapable of replacing isoleucine in the multivalent repression of the ilv genes, whereas the analogue can fully replace the natural amino acid in repression in other strains examined. The dipeptide, glycyl-leucine, which, like isoleucine, is a heterotropic negative effector of threonine deaminase but is not a substrate for isoleucyl-transfer ribonucleic acid synthetase, can completely prevent the accumulation of threonine deaminase-forming potential during isoleucine starvation in strains with normal threonine deaminases. It can not, however, prevent such accumulation in strain CU18 or in other strains in which threonine deaminase is insensitive to any concentration of isoleucine.     

Analysis of the plastid DNA in an Oenothera plastome mutant deficient in ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase

Summary Plastid DNA of the light green Oenothera plastome mutant sigma, from plastome I, which is deficient in ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase, has been compared with wild-type chloroplast DNA from plastome I and the related plastome IV. For this, double digestions with the restriction endonucleases Sal I, Pst I and Kpn I were used. Chloroplast DNA from plastomes I and IV differs in the sizes of several fragments, with the changes being from under 0.1 to about 0.6 Md in size. In the cleavage patterns of the mutant DNA compared to the wild-type DNA from plastome I, the only differences observed are two possible deletions of less than 0.1 Md from a fragment known to partly cover the genes for the ribosomal RNAs and from a fragment located in the small single-copy region of the molecule. It is concluded that the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase deficiency in this mutant is not caused by a major deletion in the plastid DNA.