Escherichia coli thymidylate kinase: molecular cloning, nucleotide sequence, and genetic organization of the corresponding tmk locus

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Abstract
Thymidylate kinase (dTMP kinase; EC 2.7.4.9) catalyzes the phosphorylation of dTMP to form dTDP in both de novo and salvage pathways of dTTP synthesis. The nucleotide sequence of the tmk gene encoding this essential Escherichia coli enzyme is the last one among all the E. coli nucleoside and nucleotide kinase genes which has not yet been reported. By subcloning the 24.0-min region where the tmk gene has been previously mapped from the lambda phage 236 (E9G1) of the Kohara E. coli genomic library (Y. Kohara, K. Akiyama, and K. Isono, Cell 50:495-508, 1987), we precisely located tmk between acpP and holB genes. Here we report the nucleotide sequence of tmk, including the end portion of an upstream open reading frame (ORF 340) of unknown function that may be cotranscribed with the pabC gene. The tmk gene was located clockwise of and just upstream of the holB gene. Our sequencing data allowed the filling in of the unsequenced gap between the acpP and holB genes within the 24-min region of the E. coli chromosome. Identification of this region as the E. coli tmk gene was confirmed by functional complementation of a yeast dTMP kinase temperature-sensitive mutant and by in vitro enzyme assay of the thymidylate kinase activity in cell extracts of E. coli by use of tmk-overproducing plasmids. The deduced amino acid sequence of the E. coli tmk gene showed significant similarity to the sequences of the thymidylate kinases of vertebrates, yeasts, and viruses as well as two uncharacterized proteins of bacteria belonging to Bacillus and Haemophilus species.