Cloning and sequencing of a plasmid-borne gene (opd) encoding a phosphotriesterase

Plasmid pCMS1 was isolated from Pseudomonas diminuta MG, a strain which constitutively hydrolyzes a broad spectrum of organophosphorus compounds. The native plasmid was restricted with PstI, and individual DNA fragments were subcloned into pBR322. A recombinant plasmid transformed into Escherichia coli possessed weak hydrolytic activity, and Southern blotting with the native plasmid DNA verified that the DNA sequence originated from pCMS1. When the cloned 1.3-kilobase fragment was placed behind the lacZ' promoter of M13mp10 and retransformed into E. coli, clear-plaque isolates with correctly sized inserts exhibited isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside-inducible whole-cell activity. Sequence determination of the M13 constructions identified an open reading frame of 975 bases preceded by a putative ribosome-binding site appropriately positioned upstream of the first ATG codon in the open reading frame. An intragenic fusion of the opd gene with the lacZ gene produced a hybrid polypeptide which was purified by beta-galactosidase immunoaffinity chromatography and used to confirm the open reading frame of opd. The gene product, an organophosphorus phosphotriesterase, would have a molecular weight of 35,418 if the presumed start site is correct. Eighty to ninety percent of the enzymatic activity was associated with the pseudomonad membrane fractions. When dissociated by treatment with 0.1% Triton and 1 M NaCl, the enzymatic activity was associated with a molecular weight of approximately 65,000, suggesting that the active enzyme was dimeric.