CONSERVED STRUCTURES OF CELL-WALL PROTEIN GENES AMONG PROTEIN-PRODUCING BACILLUS-BREVIS STRAINS

Bacillus brevis HPD31 contains a surface (S)-layer protein, termed the HWP, which forms a hexagonal array in the cell wall. The 5' region of the HWP gene was isolated from a DNA library constructed in bacteriophage vector EMBL3 from a partial BamHI digest of the chromosomal DNA. The 3' region contained in a 2.7-kilobase BglII fragment of the DNA was cloned into Escherichia coli, using pUC118 as a vector. On the basis of the chemically determined N-terminal amino acid sequence, the HWP gene was found to encode a polypeptide consisting of 1,087 amino acid residues with a signal peptide of 53 or 23 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid composition was similar to the chemical amino acid composition of other S-layer proteins in the predominance of acidic relative to basic amino acids and in the very low content of sulfur-containing amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence showed hig homology (78%) with that of the middle wall protein of B. brevis 47. Furthermore, the multiple 5' ends of the HWP gene transcripts detected on S1 nuclease analysis closely resembled those of the middle wall protein gene transcripts. This complex structure was also conservated (greater than 85%) in the regulatory regions of two other cell wall protein genes isolated from B. brevis HPD52 and HPO33, suggesting that the synthesis of the cell wall proteins is intricately regulated through a similar mechanism in protein-producing B. brevis.