[Nucleotide sequence of the pNB2 plasmid from thermophilic bacteria Clostridium thermosaccharolyticum]

The complete nucleotide sequence of pNB2, a 1.9-kilobases cryptic plasmid from thermophilic Clostridium thermosaccharolyticum has been determined. The plasmid consists of 1882 base pairs and has a G+C composition of 27.2%. The sequence contains three open reading frames capable of coding for polypeptides two of which were identified in maxicell Escherichia coli extracts. Our future studies are directed toward a construction of pNB2-derivatives as vectors for Clostridia.