Nucleotide sequence of part of the rpoC gene encoding the beta' subunit of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase from some gram-positive bacteria and comparative amino acid sequence analysis

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to generate a fragment of the rpoC gene encoding the beta' subunit of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase from the gram-positive species Listeria innocua, Listeria murrayi, Brochothrix thermosphacta, Bacillus anthracis, Staphylococcus aureus and Pediococcus acidilactici. The portion of the PCR fragments sequenced corresponded to positions 1 to 3717 of the homologous rpoC gene from Escherichia coli. Comparative analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence identified structural motifs similar to those found in the beta' subunit of E. coli shown to be involved in chelating zinc atoms and DNA binding.