Cloning and expression of the phospho-beta-galactosidase gene of Staphylococcus aureus in Escherichia coli

Abstract

The phospho-beta-galactosidase gene of Staphylococcus aureus was cloned in Escherichia coli. This was done by first isolating a staphylococcal transposon Tn551-induced mutant which rendered phospho-beta-galactosidase synthesis partially constitutive because of an insertion nearby this lac structural gene. This allowed selection in E. coli of chimeric plasmids which expressed the erythromycin resistance determinant of Tn551. A 26-kilobase (kb) BamHI insert in plasmid pBR322 was isolated which encoded phospho-beta-galactosidase, as determined by phospho-beta-galactosidase activity measurements. Maxicell experiments showed the presence of 56-, 13.5-, and 31-kilodalton proteins encoded by the staphylococcal DNA. The presence of the 56-kilodalton protein correlated with phospho-beta-galactosidase activity and corresponded in molecular weight to the reported value for the purified enzyme. The nature of the other proteins is unknown. Phospho-beta-galactosidase was apparently expressed in E. coli by a promoter contained within a 2.1-kb EcoRI chromosomal DNA fragment. This fragment, when inserted into a chloramphenicol acetyl transferase promoter detection plasmid, was transcriptionally active in both E. coli and Bacillus subtilis but was much more active in the latter host.