Genetic structure and domains of DNA polymerase III of Bacillus subtilis

We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the polC gene of Bacillus subtilis which codes for DNA polymerase III. Our recent analysis has revealed that the gene comprises 4311 nucleotides, from the start to the stop codon, 306 nucleotides more than we reported earlier. The plasmid reported by us and by N.C. Brown's laboratory contained a sequence at the end of the gene which is not related to the polC region of B. subtilis. We have isolated the rest of the gene, the sequence of which is presented in this paper. The new stop codon is followed by a hyphenated palindromic sequence of 13 nucleotides. The C-terminus of the coding region contains the novel mutation, dnaF, which results in a defect in the initiation of replication due to a change in the codon TCC to TTC (serine to phenylalanine). The hypermutator mutation mut-1 is due to two point mutations in the 3' to 5' exonuclease domain, the proof reading function. The codon changes are GGA to GAA (glycine to glutamic acid) and AGC to AAC (serine to asparagine). The elongation defective mutation, polC26, affecting the catalytic site that adds nucleotides to the growing chain, is due to a change in the codon GTC to GAC (valine to aspartic acid). It is separated from the mutation reported earlier, azp-12, by 306 nucleotides. Knowing the locations of the mutational sites allowed us to deduce the domains of the gene and the enzyme it encodes, and permitted us to present a precise map of the gene at the molecular level.