Further evidence for overlapping transcriptional units in an Escherichia coli cell envelope-cell division gene cluster: DNA sequence and transcriptional organization of the ddl ftsQ region.

A 1.2-kilobase-pair BamHI fragment from a cell envelope-cell division gene cluster of Escherichia coli containing ddl and part of ftsQ was cloned and sequenced, and the sequence was interpreted with the aid of genetic complementation and promoter fusion data for the region. Both ddl and ftsQ were transcribed in the same direction (clockwise on the genetic map). ddl was shown to be capable of independent expression from a promoter of its own, and a promoter was identified within the ddl structural gene. The structural gene of ddl consisted of 918 nucleotides, encoding a 306-residue polypeptide of molecular weight 32,840; the synthesis of a protein of this molecular weight was shown to be directed from the 1.2-kilobase-pair BamHI fragment in minicells. Analysis of the DNA sequence further showed that the termination codon of ddl is separated from the initiation codon of ftsQ by one base, which suggests that these two genes may be translationally coupled when transcription is initiated upstream of ddl. This represents a second instance of potential translational coupling within this gene cluster and also indicates that the ddl and ftsQ transcriptional units must overlap (as has been reported earlier for ftsQ and ftsA and for ftsA and ftsZ).