The identification of Escherichia coli ispB (cel) gene encoding the octaprenyl diphosphate synthase.

The gene located upstream of the nlp gene at min 69 on the chromosome of Escherichia coli was cloned from the plasmid pLC7-42 constructed by Clarke and Carbon. The extract of the strain harboring the plasmid containing this gene showed increased activity of the prenyltransferase. The product of the enzyme reaction was analyzed by two systems of the thin-layer chromatography and shown to be the phosphate ester of all-E-octaprenol. These results suggested that the gene was the structural gene for the octaprenyl diphosphate synthase which supplied the precursor of the side chain of the isoprenoid quinones.