A novel carotenoid biosynthesis gene coding for ?-carotene desaturase: functional expression, sequence and phylogenetic origin

A method is described for the rapid generation and cloning of deletion derivatives well-suited for the sequencing of long stretches of DNA. This method is based on two useful features of exonuclease III: (1) processive digestion at a very uniform rate and (2) failure to initiate digestion at DNA ends with four-base 3'-protrusions. The method was applied to a 4570-bp Drosophila genomic DNA fragment cloned in the single-stranded phage vector M 13mp18. An ordered set of deletion clones was made by first cutting replicative form(RF) DNA with two restriction enzymes in the polylinker region of the vector between the Drosophila DNA and the sequencing primer binding site. One enzyme left a four-base 3'-protrusion that protected the remainder of the vector from exonuclease III attack, allowing unidirectional digestion of the insert sequence from the 5'-protruding end left by the other enzyme. Aliquots were removed at uniform intervals, treated with S1 nuclease, Klenow DNA polymerase, T4 DNA ligase, and then used to transfect competent cells. Most of the resulting clones derived from each aliquot were deleted to a predicted extent with only slight scatter, even for deletions of more than 4 kb. The method permits efficient isolation of clusters of deletion breakpoints within small preselected regions of large DNA segments, allowing nonrandom sequence analysis.

The most important function of carotenoid pigments, especially beta-carotene in higher plants, is to protect organisms against photooxidative damage (G. Britton, in T. W. Goodwin, ed., Plant Pigments--1988, 1988; N. I. Krinsky, in O. Isler, H. Gutmann, and U. Solms, ed., Carotenoids--1971, 1971). beta-Carotene also functions as a precursor of vitamin A in mammals (G. A. J. Pitt, in I. Osler, H. Gutmann, and U. Solms, ed., Carotenoids--1971, 1971). The enzymes and genes which mediate the biosynthesis of cyclic carotenoids such as beta-carotene are virtually unknown. We have elucidated for the first time the pathway for biosynthesis of these carotenoids at the level of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, using bacterial carotenoid biosynthesis genes. These genes were cloned from a phytopathogenic bacterium, Erwinia uredovora 20D3 (ATCC 19321), in Escherichia coli and located on a 6,918-bp fragment whose nucleotide sequence was determined. Six open reading frames were found and designated the crtE, crtX, crtY, crtI, crtB, and crtZ genes in reference to the carotenoid biosynthesis genes of a photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter capsulatus; only crtZ had the opposite orientation from the others. The carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in Erwinia uredovora was clarified by analyzing carotenoids accumulated in E. coli transformants in which some of these six genes were expressed, as follows: geranylgeranyl PPiCrtB----prephytoene PPiCrtE----phytoeneCrtI---- lycopeneCrtY----beta-caroteneCrtZ----zeaxanthinCrtX--- -zeaxanthin-beta- diglucoside. The carotenoids in this pathway appear to be close to those in higher plants rather than to those in bacteria. Also significant is that only one gene product (CrtI) for the conversion of phytoene to lycopene is required, a conversion in which four sequential desaturations should occur via the intermediates phytofluene, zeta-carotene, and neurosporene.