Nucleotide sequence of the gene responsible for D-xylose uptake in Escherichia coli

The nucleotide sequence of the cloned DNA, 363 bp in length, has been determined. It can complement the mutation of Escherichia coli having a decreased activity of D-xylose uptake at low temperature. Nucleotide sequence analysis found one possible reading frame coding for a polypeptide consisting of 61 amino acids. Several signal sequences conserved in the promoter regions of E. coli were found in the upstream regions of the open frame. This included the Shine-Dalgarno sequence, the Pribnow box, and the sequence conserved in the "-35 region" with a preferable spacing from each other for an efficient transcription. Downstream from the termination codon, the inverted repeat sequence was present, followed by 3 successive T's.