Complete nucleotide sequence of the fumarase gene fumA, of Escherichia coli.

The nucleotide sequence of a 2.41 kb fragment of E. coli DNA containing the fumA gene encoding fumarase was determined using the dideoxy chain termination method. The initiation and termination sites of fumA transcription were located using RNA:DNA hybridisation with single-stranded M13 probes. The length of the fumA transcript was estimated as 1760 +/- 15 nucleotides and the fumA coding region of 1647 base pairs (549 codons) was identified. The deduced molecular weight of the fumarase protein (Mr = 60163) is in good agreement with that of the protein identified by the maxicell procedure. The DNA fragment also contains the 5' end of the manA gene encoding mannose 6-phosphate isomerase, which is transcribed with the opposite polarity to fumA .