Nucleotide sequence and deduced amino acid sequence of Escherichia coli adenine phosphoribosyltransferase and comparison with other analogous enzymes.

The Escherichia coli apt gene has been analyzed and its nucleotide (nt) sequence and the deduced amino acid (aa) sequence compared to those of other phosphoribosyltransferases (PRTs). The apt mRNA has a 102-nt leader sequence which may form alternate secondary structures. The RNA transcript may also form several 3' hairpin structures, which, however, do not appear to act as Rho-independent terminators. All PRTs, including E. coli adenine PRT (APRT), have a strongly conserved 13-aa sequence, as well as other regions of aa sequence or structural similarity. E. coli APRT is remarkably similar to the mouse enzyme.