Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the Escherichia coli cytidine deaminase (ccd) gene

The structural gene that encodes cytidine deaminase (cdd) in Escherichia coli was cloned from Kohara phage lambda 365 (7F1), and its nucleotide sequence was determined. Plasmids harboring the gene complemented chromosomal cdd mutations, enhanced cytidine deaminase activity in cell extracts, and directed the synthesis of a protein identical in mass and N-terminal amino acid sequence with cytidine deaminase purified from wild-type bacteria. Metal analysis of the purified, plasmid-encoded deaminase indicated a single atom of tightly bound zinc per subunit. Earlier work has shown that bacterial cytidine deaminase and mammalian adenosine deaminase are remarkably alike in their mechanisms of action, in their free energies of interaction with analogue inhibitors resembling tetrahedral intermediates in nucleophilic substitution, and in their ability to discriminate between analogue inhibitors differing by a single hydroxyl group. In contrast to these shared catalytic similarities, the deduced amino acid sequence of E. coli cytidine deaminase (monomer MW 31,540) differs markedly from the mammalian adenosine deaminase sequence suggesting major differences in their tertiary structures. Nevertheless, cytidine deaminase and mammalian plus bacterial adenosine deaminases share a single region (TVHA) of sequence identity that is tentatively identified as part of the cytidine deaminase active site.