Multiple copies of a bile acid-inducible gene in Eubacterium sp. strain VPI 12708

Eubacterium sp. strain VPI 12708 is an anaerobic intestinal bacterium which possesses inducible bile acid 7-dehydroxylation activity. Several new polypeptides are produced in this strain following induction with cholic acid. Genes coding for two copies of a bile acid-inducible 27,000-dalton polypeptide (baiA1 and baiA2) have been previously cloned and sequenced. We now report on a gene coding for a third copy of this 27,000-dalton polypeptide (baiA3). The baiA3 gene has been cloned in lambda DASH on an 11.2-kilobase DNA fragment from a partial Sau3A digest of the Eubacterium DNA. DNA sequence analysis of the baiA3 gene revealed 100% homology with the baiA1 gene within the coding region of the 27,000-dalton polypeptides. The baiA2 gene shares 81% sequence identity with the other two genes at the nucleotide level. The flanking nucleotide sequences associated with the baiA1 and baiA3 genes are identical for 930 bases in the 5' direction from the initiation codon and for at least 325 bases in the 3' direction from the stop codon, including the putative promoter regions for the genes. An additional open reading frame (occupying from 621 to 648 bases, depending on the correct start codon) was found in the identical 5' regions associated with the baiA1 and baiA3 clones. The 5' sequence 930 bases upstream from the baiA1 and baiA3 genes was totally divergent. The baiA2 gene, which is part of a large bile acid-inducible operon, showed no homology with the other two genes either in the 5' or 3' direction from the polypeptide coding region, except for a 15-base-pair presumed ribosome-binding site in the 5' region. These studies strongly suggest that a gene duplication (baiA1 and baiA3) has occurred and is stably maintained in this bacterium.