Phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase gene, pheT, from Synechococcus PCC 7942

We report an open reading frame (ORF) from Synechococcus PCC 7942 encoding a protein (812 residues) with 61% similarity (39% identity) to PheT from Bacillus subtilis. Expression of this ORF was confirmed by reverse transcriptase PCR with Southern analysis. PheT is one of the subunits of phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase which together catalyse the ligation of phenylalanine to its cognate tRNA. This is the second gene encoding a representative of the twenty tRNA synthetases to have been isolated from cyanobacteria and fully sequenced. The key words allude to implications resulting from the isolation of this gene which have attracted our attention.