Identification of the mglA gene product in the beta-methylgalactoside transport system of Escherichia coli using plasmid DNA deletions generated in vitro.

Three genes (mglA, mglB, and mglC) required for active transport of substrate by the methylgalactoside permease were identified in a hybrid ColE1-DNA plasmid isolated from a clone (pLC3-14) of the Clarke-Carbon bank of Escherichia coli genes. A 4.6-kilobase DNA fragment obtained from pLC3-14 was cloned into the plasmid vector pBR322. The presence of the three mgl genes in the resultant plasmid, pMG3, was verified by genetic complementation and biochemical analysis of mgl mutants transformed with pMG3 DNA. Derivatives of pMG3 containing deletions in each mgl gene were constructed; restriction endonuclease mapping and functional analysis of these plasmids allowed us to physically locate the mgl genes within the inserted plasmid DNA and also to identify a heretofore unknown protein component of the transport system. Expression of these plasmids in vivo resulted in the specific synthesis of three major proteins of apparent molecular weight of 19,000, 36,000, and 52,000. The 36,000-dalton protein is the galactose-binding protein previously identified as the mglB product. The 19,000-dalton protein maybe the product of mglD, a regulatory gene mapping outside of the mgl gene cluster. The 52,000-dalton protein is a new permease component which we have identified here as the mglA product based on the observation that pMG6, a plasmid with a 0.6-kilobase mglA deletion, failed to encode for this protein but produced a truncated polypeptide showing a reduction in molecular weight comparable to the extent of the deletion. In bacteria bearing an mglA+, B-, C+ plasmid (Pmg4), the 52,000-dalton protein is located to a large extent (73%) in the membrane fraction.