An ice nucleation active gene of Erwinia ananas. Sequence similarity to those of Pseudomonas species and regions required for ice nucleation activity.

The ice nucleation active gene, inaA, of Erwinia ananas IN-10 has been sequenced. This gene encodes a protein composed of 1322 amino acid residues. The inaA protein contains a 1120-residue segment consisting of 70 repeats of closely related 16 amino acid motifs (R-domain), which is flanked by N- and C-terminal sequences (N- and C-domains, respectively). Its primary structure is similar to, but not identical with, those of Pseudomonas inaW and inaZ gene products. By truncating the inaA gene to various extents, it was found that deletion of the C-domain resulted in complete loss of the ice nucleation activity, whereas removal of the N-domain led to a moderate decrease in the activity. Complete loss of the activity was also observed when the N-domain plus a large part of the P-domain were deleted. It is suggested that the C-domain is required for the assembly of inaA protein to form a functional ice nucleus.