Cloning and sequencing of a 40.6 kb segment in the 73 degrees-76 degrees region of the Bacillus subtilis chromosome containing genes for trehalose metabolism and acetoin utilization.

In the framework of the international project aimed at the sequencing of the Bacillus subtilis genome, a 40.6 kb chromosome segment, which contains the tre locus, has been cloned and sequenced. This region (40 601 bp; 73 degrees-76 degrees on the genetic map) contains 38 complete ORFs and one partial one. Three ORFs, the closest to the hsdC locus, correspond to the treP, treA and treR genes encoding enzyme IITre, trehalose-6-phosphate hydrolase and the repressor of the tre operon, respectively. A homology search for the products deduced from the 39 ORFs revealed that 23 exhibit significant similarity to known proteins, e.g. proteins involved in acetoin utilization, deoxyribonuclease, methyladenine glycosidase, hydroxyisobutyrate dehydrogenase, multidrug resistance proteins, protein phosphatase, cyclic-nucleotide phosphodiesterase, 5'-nucleotidase and NADP(H)-flavin oxidoreductase. Based on the gene organization and the results of the homology search, it is predicted that YfjG, YfjH, YfjI, YfjJ and YfjK form an acetoin dehydrogenase system (acetoin regulatory protein, and acetoin dehydrogenase components/subunits E3, E2, E1 beta and E1 alpha respectively). yfkN, an extremely large ORF comprising 4386 nucleotides, seems to correspond to the fusion of the genes for 2',3'-cyclic-nucleotide 2'-phosphodiesterase and 5'-nucleotidase precursor.