Cloning and sequence analysis of the gene encoding isocitrate lyase from Rhodococcus fascians

An isocitrate lyase (Icl)-encoding gene (icl) from the Gram+ plant pathogen Rhodococcus fascians was identified serendipitously as part of a scrambled fragment after shotgun cloning in the promoter probe vector, pDP1. The Icl protein is 429 amino acids long (47.11 kDa) and has a predicted pI of 4.84; it is 54% similar to the Escherichia coli Icl and 24-27% to eukaryotic homologues. Comparison of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic Icl confirms the earlier proposal of Matsuoka and McFadden [J. Bacteriol. 143 (1988) 4528-4536] that the enzyme has enlarged during evolution.