Cloning and expression of two autolysin genes, cwIU and cwIV, which are tandemly arranged on the chromosome of Bacillus polymyxa var. colistinus

The cwlV gene, which encodes Bacillus polymyxa var. colistinus autolysin was cloned and sequenced. cwlV comprises a 1497-bp ORF and encodes a polypeptide of 499 amino acid (aa) residues (M_r of 53,707 Da). The N-terminal sequence of the mature 23-kDa CwlV protein is NSXGKKVVVIDAGXGAKD(X, undetermined aa); this processed form corresponds to the C-terminal portion (183 aa, M_r of 20,050 Da) of the cwlV ORF. Sequencing of the flanking region revealed that another putative autolysin gene, cwlU, is located upstream of cwlV. cwlU encodes a polypeptide of 524 aa and its deduced sequence is 34.9% identical to the full-length sequence of CwlV. Downstream of cwlV, the genes for a deduced lipoprotein (OrfW), an endonuclease III homolog (Nth), a non-homologous OrfX, a glutathione peroxidase homolog (Gpx), and the N-terminal region of OrfZ containing a ATP/GTP-binding site motif were found. Northern blotting and primer-extension analyses revealed that cwlU is transcribed as a single cistron, but cwlV is transcribed with orfW. The unprocessed forms of CwlV and CwlU (VΔS and UΔS, respectively) and their predicted mature forms (Vcat and Ucat, respectively) were expressed in, and purified from, Escherichia coli. Enzyme analysis indicated that VΔS and Vcat exhibit low and high cell wall hydrolase activities toward B. polymyxa cell wall, respectively, but UΔS and Ucat exhibit almost no and low cell wall hydrolase activities, respectively. Received: 14 April 1999 / Accepted: 26 July 1999