hydγ, a gene from Desulfovibrio vulgaris (Hildenborough) encodes a polypeptide homologous to the periplasmic hydrogenase

Downstream of the genes for the structural alpha and beta subunits of the periplasmic Desulfovibrio vulgaris (Hildenborough) hydrogenase a DNA fragment was detected with sequence homology to these genes. This fragment was cloned in Escherichia coli and the nucleotide sequence was determined. A gene was detected on the fragment with coding capacity for a 65.8 kDa polypeptide, hyd gamma. The central part of hyd gamma has an unusually high degree of homology with the alpha subunit and the C-terminal part has similarity with the beta subunit. These results strongly suggest that the three genes for hyd gamma and the alpha and beta subunits derive from one common ancestor gene. We succeeded in the identification of the translational product of this gene in E. coli, but were unable to determine the function of hyd gamma after expression in E. coli.