Molecular analysis of regulatory and structural xyl genes of the TOL plasmid pWW53-4

pWW53-4 is a cointegrate between RP4 and the catabolic plasmid pWW53 from Pseudomonas putida MT53, which contains 36 kbp of pWW53 DNA inserted close to the oriV gene of RP4; it encodes the ability to grow on toluene and the xylenes, characteristic of pWW53, as well as resistance to tetracycline, kanamycin and carbenicillin, characteristic of RP4. A physical map of the 36 kbp insert of pWW53 DNA for 11 restriction enzymes is presented, showing that the relative positions of the two xyl operons are different from those on the archetypal TOL plasmid pWW0. The location of the genes for 4-oxalocrotonate decarboxylase (xylI) and 4-oxalocrotonate tautomerase (xylH) were shown by subcloning and enzyme assay to lie at the distal end of the meta pathway operon. Although 2-oxopent-4-enoate hydratase (xylJ) and 4-hydroxy-2-oxovalerate aldolase (xylK) could be detected on a large cloned HindIII fragment, they could not be accurately located on smaller subcloned DNA, but the only credible position for them is between xylF and xylI. The gene order in the meta pathway operon is therefore xylDLEGF(J,K)IH. The regulatory genes xylS and xylR were located close to and downstream of the meta pathway operon, and the restriction map of the DNA in this region, as has previously been shown for the two operons carrying the structural genes, shows similarities with the corresponding region on pWW0. Evidence is also presented for the existence of two promoters, termed P3 and P4, internal to the meta pathway operon which support low constitutive expression of the structural genes downstream in Pseudomonas hosts but not in E. coli.