A plasmid encoding enzymes for nylon oligomer degradation: nucleotide sequence and analysis of pOAD2.

The entire nucleotide sequence of nylon oligomer degradative plasmid pOAD2 from Flavobacterium sp. KI723T1 was determined. pOAD2 comprises 45519 bp, with a 66.6 mol% G+C content. The precise loci of the four nylon oligomer degradation genes, namely nylA (6-aminohexanoate-cyclic-dimer hydrolase gene), nylB (6-aminohexanoate-dimer hydrolase), nylB' (a gene having 88% homology to nylB) and nylC (endo-type 6-aminohexanoate oligomer hydrolase), and five IS6100 elements were identified on this plasmid. Comparison of the sequence of pOAD2 with those in the GenBank and EMBL databases revealed that the deduced amino acid sequences from eight regions of pOAD2 had significant similarity with the sequences of gene products such as oppA-F (oligopeptide permeases), ftsX (filamentation temperature sensitive), penDE (isopenicillin N-acyltransferase) and rep (plasmid incompatibility). A functional map of pOAD2 is presented.