Comparison of the tryptophan synthetase alpha-subunits of several species of Enterobacteriaceae

Abstract

Creighton, T. E. (Stanford University, Stanford), D. R. Helinski, R. L. Somerville, and C. Yanofsky. Comparison of the tryptophan synthetase alpha subunits of several species of Enterobacteriaceae. J. Bacteriol. 91:1819-1826. 1966.-The tryptophan synthetase alpha subunits of Escherichia coli K-12, E. coli B, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhimurium, and Aerobacter aerogenes have been purified and their structures compared. Each of these alpha subunits exhibits a sedimentation coefficient of about 2.7S. Peptide patterns of trypsin plus chymotrypsin digests of the alpha subunits have indicated that all of the alpha subunits have peptide regions in common. The patterns of E. coli K-12, E. coli B, and S. dysenteriae alpha subunits appear to be nearly identical, whereas the alpha subunits from S. typhimurium and A. aerogenes differ from those of E. coli and from each other. It has also been shown that the E. coli structural gene for the alpha subunit is translated identically in E. coli and S. typhimurium.