FIG. 6.
Schematic illustrations of the vmm gene with the promoter region and the Vmm precursor. (A) The vmm gene is preceded by a Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence and a promoter that consists of −10 and −35 regions that are identical to the consensus δ70 promoter of E. coli. A dinucleotide (TA)n repeat of variable length makes up the promoter spacer and part of the Pribnow box, and it was shown that active promoters have a total number (n) of 10 repetitions. Note that the illustration is not drawn to scale. (B) The vmm gene encodes a protein precursor of 59 aa, which has a prolipoprotein signal peptidase site, VVA-C, at positions 21 to 24, indicating that lipid modification will take place at the cysteine moiety and that the signal peptide of 23 aa will be spliced off. The shaded boxes represent two repetitive motifs of KPAD.