Structure and autoregulation of the metJ regulatory gene in Escherichia coli.

The nucleotide sequence of the Escherichia coli metJ regulatory gene (312 nucleotides) has been determined as well as that of two mutations located within the gene. Analysis of the sequence downstream from the metJ gene has revealed inverted repeats homologous to several intercistronic regions, also reported to occur between operons. A hybrid protein that contains the 55 first amino acid residues of the metJ protein substituting for the 8 amino acid residues at the NH2 terminus of beta-galactosidase was produced by gene fusion. The hybrid protein retaining beta-galactosidase activity was purified. Its amino-terminal sequence was determined and this allowed us to locate the translational start codon of the metJ gene. Evidence was provided for autoregulation by repression of the metJ gene. By sequencing upstream from metJ, the region situated between the metJ and metB genes was found to contain putative operator structures that we propose to call "Met boxes."