Nucleotide sequence of the Rickettsia prowazekii ATP/ADP translocase-encoding gene

The Rickettsia prowazekii ATP/ADP translocase (Tlc) gene (tlc), previously cloned in Escherichia coli was localized to a 1.6-kb chromosomal fragment. Nucleotide sequence analysis of this fragment revealed an open reading frame of 1494 bp that could encode a hydrophobic protein of 497 amino acids (aa) with an M_r of 56 668. Analysis of the deduced aa sequence revealed that it contained twelve potential membrane-spanning regions. Comparisons between the deduced aa sequence of the R. prowazekii ATP/ADP Tlc and the sequences of mitochondrial (mt) Tic revealed no detectable homologies between the rickettsial and mt sequences. The major protein synthesized in E. coli minicells containing the rickettsial gene exhibited an M_r of approx. 34000.