GENES ENCODING 2 ISOCITRATE DEHYDROGENASE ISOZYMES OF A PSYCHROPHILIC BACTERIUM, VIBRIO SP STRAIN ABE-1

The genes coding for two structurally different isocitrate dehydrogenase isozymes (IDH-I and IDH-II) of a psychrophilic bacterium, Vibrio sp. strain ABE-1, were cloned and sequenced. Open reading frames of the genes (icdI and icdII) are 1,248 and 2,229 bp in length, respectively. The amino acid sequences predicted from the open reading frames of icdI and icdII corresponded to the N-terminal amino acid sequences of the purified IDH-I and IDH-II, respectively. No homology was found between the deduced amino acid sequences of the isozymes; however, the IDH-I, a dimeric enzyme, had a high amino acid sequence identity (74.3%) to the Escherichia coli IDH. The deduced amino acid sequence of the IDH-II, a monomeric enzyme, was not related to any known sequence. However, the IDH-II had an amino acid sequence homologous to that of a cyanogen bromide-cleaved peptide containing a putative active-site methionyl residue of the monomeric IDH of Azotobacter vinelandii. The two genes (icdI and icdII) were found to be tandemly located in the same orientation. Northern (RNA) blot analyses showed that the two genes are transcribed independently. Primer extension experiments located single transcriptional start sites 39 and 96 bp upstream of the start codons of icdI and icdII, respectively. The amount of icdI transcript but not icdII increased when Vibrio sp. strain ABE-1 cells were cultured in acetate minimal medium.