Nucleotide sequence of the temperate Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage SPO2 DNA polymerase gene L

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Abstract
Temperate B. subtilis phage SPO2 codes for a phage-specific DNA polymerase. The polymerase gene was cloned, and its nucleotide sequence was determined. Within the sequence there is an open reading frame starting with a TTG and ending with 3 consecutive translational stop codons. Ten base pairs upstream from the proposed TTG initiation codon there is a probable ribosome-binding site with a calculated free energy of interaction with the 3'' end of B. subtilis 16S rRNA of -15 kcal (-63 kJ/mol). Based on the sequence and the expression of the polymerase gene in 3 different hybrid plasmids, it was concluded that this open reading frame is the structural gene for SPO2 DNA polymerase. The predicted MW of the polymerase is 72,486. In hybrid plasmid pJB74, the terminal triplet of an open reading frame with coding capacity for a protein of .apprx. 10 kilodaltons overlaps with the translational initiation triplet TTG of the polymerase gene. Evidently, transcription and translation of this open reading frame can influence the amount of phage DNA polymerase made in SPO2-infected bacteria.