Peripheral sequences of the Serratia entomophila pADAP virulence-associated region

Some strains of the Enterobacteriaceae Serratia entomophila and Serratia proteamaculans cause amber disease in the grass grub, Costelytra zealandica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), an important pasture pest in New Zealand. The genes responsible for this disease reside on a large, 155-kb plasmid designated amber disease-associated plasmid (pADAP). Herein, we report the DNA sequencing of approximately 50 kb upstream and 10 kb downstream of the virulence-encoding region. Based on similarity with proteins in the current databases, and potential ribosome-binding sites, 63 potential ORFs were determined. Eleven of these ORFs belong to a type IV pilus cluster (pilL-V) and a further eight have similarities to the translated products of the plasmid transfer traH-N genes of the plasmid R64. In addition, a degenerate 785-nt direct repeat flanks a 44.7-kb region with the potential to encode three Bacillus subtilis Yee-type proteins, a fimbrial gene cluster, the sep virulence-associated genes and several remnant IS elements.