• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.415-422
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• 1996

A gene coding for a pyruvyl transferase enzyme involved in exopolysaccharide biosynthesis of Zoogloea ramigera 115SLR was isolated and sequenced. A 4.5 kb of BamHI DNA fragment was isolated from chromosomal DNA using a probe derived from ketal pyruvyl transferase gene of Xanthomonas campestris. The nucleotide sequence of 2.66 kb Pst1/HindIII DNA fragment which was homology with a probe revealed the existence of two complete open reading frames (ORF2 and ORF3) and two partial open reading frames (ORFI and ORF4). The deduced amino acid sequence of ORF3 was homologous to the ketalase (GumL product) of X campestris with 49.5% of similarity and 21.6% of identity. ORF2 on the other hand showed the higher identity with the ketalase (ExoV product) of Rhizobium meliloti (36%) as well as the ketalase of X campestris (23%) than that of ORF3. A gene product of ORF2 was determined with a bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase/promoter system in E. coli. The molecular weight of protein was 33,500 dalton.