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Partial physical and functional map of aMycobacterium aurum carotenogenesis operon

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Abstract

The genes controlling the biosynthesis of the carotenes inMycobacterium aurum were clustered in a 10.83-kb segment. Fragments generated by endonuclease digestions of the segment were cloned into a pHLD69 shuttle vector. The plasmids so constructed were used to transform a colorless (albino)M. aurum mutant (strain A11), a brick-red mutant accumulating large amounts of lycopene (strain NgR9), the buff-coloredMycobacterium smegmatis MC2-155, and the buffcoloredMycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra. From the endonuclease digestion patterns and the phenotypes of the transformed strains, the partial physical and functional maps of a carotenogenesis operon were established. This investigation also showed that the genes controlling the conversion of lycopene into the xanthophylls were not located in the 10.83-kb segment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tuberculosis and Mycobacteria Unit, Pasteur Institut, Paris, France

    Mahomed Houssaini-Iraqui, Sabine Clavel-Sérès, Nalin Rastogi &  Hugo L. David

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  1. Mahomed Houssaini-Iraqui
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  2. Sabine Clavel-Sérès
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  3. Nalin Rastogi
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  4. Hugo L. David
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Houssaini-Iraqui, M., Clavel-Sérès, S., Rastogi, N. et al. Partial physical and functional map of aMycobacterium aurum carotenogenesis operon. Current Microbiology 26, 65–74 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01577338

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01577338

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