Cloning of HSP70 (dnaK) gene from Clostridium perfringens using a general polymerase chain reaction based approach

A general method to clone the HSP70 gene from any species employing polymerase chain reaction and degenerate oligonucleotide primers for conserved regions of this protein family is described. Using this method, a clone containing the entire coding sequence for the HSP70 gene from Clostridium perfringens, has been isolated and sequenced. The HSP70s from C. perfringens as well as other Gram-positive groups of bacteria contain a large deletion of 25 amino acids, near the N-terminal end, which is not seen in HSP70 from other sources.