Cloning of Bacillus subtilis leucina A, B and C genes with Escherichia coli plasmids and expression of the leuC gene in E. coli.

The leucine genes of Bacillus subtilis have been cloned directly from the chromosomal DNA into Escherichia coli leuB cells by selection for the Leu+ phenotype using RSF2124 as a vector plasmid. The hybrid plasmid designated RSF2124-B.leu contained a 4.2 megadalton fragment derived from B. subtilis DNA, including the leu genes. The fragment had one site susceptible to EcoRI* and another site susceptible to BamNI endonuclease. Among the three fragments produced by EcoRI* and BamNI endonucleases, the 1.2 megadalton fragment had the ability to transform B. subtilis leuA, leuB and leuC auxotrophs to leu+. However, B. subtilis ilvB and ilvc auxotrophs were not rescued even by the whole 4.2 megadalton fragment present in the hybrid plasmid. beta-Isopropylmalate dehydrogenase (leuB gene product) activity found in E. coli cells containing the hybrid plasmid was about 60% of that in E. coli wild type cells, despite the high copy number (7.8) of the plasmid per chromosome observed.