Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the gene for an archaebacterial protein synthesis elongation factor Tu

Summary A restriction fragment enrichment procedure was devised for the identification and cloning of the gene for protein synthesis elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) from Methanococcus vannielii, employing hybridisation with an internal tufB gene probe from Escherichia coli. Methanococcus contains a single tuf gene on its chromosome; it is expressed in E. coli and it codes for a polypeptide of 46.5 kDa. The overall architecture of the protein bears a striking resemblance to that of eukaryotic elongation factor 1 (EF-1). The close similarity to EF-1 is supported by the sequence homology values which are in the range of 34% to 35% with eubacterial, plastid and mitochondrial EF-Tu sequences and as high as 52% to 54% with those from eukaryotic EF-1.