Characterization of the Escherichia coli thyA gene and its amplified thymidylate synthetase product.

The 7.8-kilobase HindIII insert in phage lambda NM589thyA [Borck, K., Beggs, J.D., Brammar, W.J., Hopkins, A.S. & Murray, N. (1976) Mol. Gen. Genet. 146, 199] was confirmed as originating from Escherichia coli by hybridization analysis and was shown to encode the thymidylate synthetase (5,-10-methylenetetrahydrofolate:dUMP C-methyltransferase EC 2.1.1.45) of E. coli K-12 by using biochemical, structural, and immunologic criteria. The 7.8-kilobase insert was reduced in size to a quasi-random population of DNA subfragments by partial digestion with the 4-base-pair recognition enzymes Alu I and Hae III. A clone containing a 1.1- to 1.2-kilobase fragment that encompassed the gene was obtained from this mixture by selecting for Thy+ recombinants. Fusion of this DNA fragment to the phage lambda rho L promoter in plasmid pKC30 revealed the direction of transcription of the thyA gene, and, in a phage lambda lysogen containing a thermolabile repressor, intracellular synthetase levels were increased about 700-fold. The enzyme was purified to homogeneity from this source by affinity chromatography, and some of its properties are described.