Isolation of the Threonine Dehydratase Gene from a Tylosin-Producing Strain of Streptomyces fradiae

From the plasmid library made from Sstl and San-digested genomic DNA of Streptomyces fradiae NRRL 2702, four positive clones were selected using an oligodeoxynucleotide probe from the N-terminal amino acid sequence of purified threonine dehydratase. The cloned gene for threonine dehydratase was a 2.0 kilo-base pair DNA fragment. The deduced amino acid sequence of PCR product (PCR245) was matched to that of the N-terminal part of threonine dehydratase from S. fradiae and this showed a high similarity to the threonine dehydratases of other organisms. This indicated that amino acid sequences of threonine dehydratases were highly conserved and the polypeptide product of the PCR245 was likely to be involved in the deamination of threonine.