Linkage Relationships of Genes Controlling Isoleucine, Valine, and Leucine Biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Barat , M. (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Gif-sur-Yvette, Seine et Oise, France), C. Anagnostopoulos, and A.-M. Schneider . Linkage relationships of genes controlling isoleucine, valine, and leucine biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis . J. Bacteriol. 90: 357–369. 1965.—In Bacillus subtilis , the genetic loci controlling isoleucine and valine biosynthesis are not all clustered. Some of them were located on two distinct transforming deoxyribonucleic acid “molecules.” One of these molecules (the “ ileilva 2–4 - met segment”) carries the threonine deaminase and the dihydroxy acid dehydrase loci linked to methionine markers. The other (the “ ilva 1–3 - leu segment”) bears the reductoisomerase locus and one or more loci involved in leucine synthesis. A phenylalanine marker was also shown to be weakly linked to this latter group. In transduction mediated by phage PBS-1, these groups are transferred jointly with other gene clusters. The phage appears to convey chromosome fragments considerably longer than the transforming “molecules.” The genetic maps of both the above segments were extended by transduction. Some groups previously studied by transformation can be placed in the following linear order: the ile-ilva 2–4 - met segment, the cluster of loci involved in aromatic amino acid synthesis ( try segment), and a lysine locus. An arginine locus is cotransduced with the phe-ilva 1–2 - leu segment. Recombination frequencies between linked markers are much lower in transduction by this phage than in transformation.