otide sequence and analysis of

We have determined the sequence of a 1,162- base-pair DNA fragment containing a spoOF gene which is re- quired for an early stage of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. The sequence has only one long open reading frame consisting of 173 codons, which has been confirmed to be the spoOF cistron by DNA- mediated transformation and in vitro transcription. In UV-irra- diated "maxicells" containing pUBSF13, the plasmid that carries cloned spoOF gene, we have observed the synthesis of a 20-kilo- dalton polypeptide that is absent from cells carrying a vector plas- mid pUBllO. The molecular weight of this protein is in agreement with the calculated molecular weight of the spoOF gene product (Mr, 19,065). The putative promoter sequences of spoOF gene were 5' T-A-T-A-A-T 3' at -10 and 5' T-T-G-A-T-T 3' at -35. An oc- tamer sequence, 5' A-A-A-G-G-A-G-G 3', situated 8 base pairs prior to the initiation codon was found to be perfectly comple- mentary with the 3' end of 16S ribosomal RNA. This result offers additional evidence for the proposal by Rabinowitz's group that an extensive mRNA-rRNA interaction is a requirement for effi-