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. 1990 Jun;172(6):3237–3243. doi: 10.1128/jb.172.6.3237-3243.1990

Roles of the two lysyl-tRNA synthetases of Escherichia coli: analysis of nucleotide sequences and mutant behavior.

R L Clark 1, F C Neidhardt 1
PMCID: PMC209130  PMID: 2188953

Abstract

The complete nucleotide sequence of lysU, the gene for the heat-inducible lysyl-tRNA synthetase of Escherichia coli, was determined and compared with the published sequence of lysS (herC), the gene for the constitutive lysyl-tRNA synthetase. These unlinked genes were found to be identical over 72% of their lengths. The deduced amino acid sequences of the respective gene products, LysU and LysS, were identical over 85% and similar over 92% of their lengths. Accumulation of high levels of LysU during growth of strains carrying the wild-type allele of lysU on multicopy plasmids had no observable effect on growth or on the synthesis of LysS. A lysU deletion strain was constructed and was shown to grow normally at low temperature (28 degrees C) but poorly at 44 degrees C; the slow growth (45% of normal) at elevated temperature was fully reversed by plasmids bearing wild-type lysU. The implications of these findings for the existence of two aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases for lysine are discussed.

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Selected References

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