A carotenogenic gene cluster exists on a large plasmid in <i>Thermus thermophilus</i>

Abstract

In Thermus thermophilus HB27, the crtB gene encoding phytoene synthase was found to exist on the large plasmid, pTT27. One of the carotenoid under-producing mutants, Crt31, carried a derivative of pTT27 (pTT27') in which deletion and inversion were observed near the crtB gene. T. thermophilus HB8 also contained a large plasmid which showed homology to pTT27 and the crtB gene. These results suggested that genes for carotenoid biosynthesis occurred as a cluster on a large plasmid in Thermus thermophilus. This is the first report to show directly that carotenogenesis is plasmid-encoded in microorganisms.