Cloning and expression of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus catechol 1,2-dioxygenase structural gene catA in Escherichia coli.

Catechol 1,2-dioxygenase (EC 1.13.1.1), the product of the catA gene, catalyzes the first step in catechol utilization via the beta-ketoadipate pathway. Enzymes mediating subsequent steps in the pathway are encoded by the catBCDE genes which are carried on a 5-kilobase-pair (kbp) EcoRI restriction fragment isolated from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. This DNA was used as a probe to identify Escherichia coli colonies carrying recombinant pUC19 plasmids with overlapping sequences. Repetition of the procedure yielded an A. calcoaceticus 6.7-kbp EcoRI restriction fragment which contained the catA gene and bordered the original 5-kbp EcoRI restriction fragment. When the catA-containing fragment was placed under the control of the lac promoter on pUC19 and induced with isopropylthiogalactopyranoside, catechol dioxygenase was formed in E. coli at twice the level found in fully induced cultures of A. calcoaceticus. A. calcoaceticus strains with mutations in the catA gene were transformed to wild type by DNA from lysates of E. coli strains carrying the catA gene on recombinant plasmids. Thus, A. calcoaceticus strains with a mutated gene can be used in a transformation assay to identify E. coli clones in which at least part of the wild-type gene is present but not necessarily expressed.