Complete sequence of the Campylobacter jejuni glyA gene encoding serine hydroxymethyltransferase

The complete nucleotide sequence of the Campylobacter jejuni glyA gene was determined and the amino acid (aa) sequence of its product, serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT), was deduced. The deduced polypeptide has 414 aa residues (Mr 45,758). The aa sequences of C. jejuni and Escherichia coli show 55.6% identity. Comparative analysis of the aa sequences of the SHMTs of E. coli and C. jejuni identified two new putative functional domains. The translational product of the C. jejuni glyA gene was identified using both minicell and maxicell systems and the transcription start point was mapped. The deduced transcription-regulatory signals, -10 and -35 sequences, show high homology to the corresponding consensus sequences for sigma 70 promoters in E. coli. The C. jejuni glyA promoter may be useful in the construction of shuttle vectors between E. coli and C. jejuni.