TRANSFORMATION STUDIES ON THE LINKAGE OF MARKERS IN THE TRYPTOPHAN PATHWAY IN BACILLUS SUBTILIS

Abstract

The genes controlling the synthesis of tryptophan in B subtilis are clustered; all those studied are linked to each other and to a histidine marker in transformation experiments. A reasonably satisfactory map can be constructed from the data of two-and three-point recombination experiments. In this map, the tryptophan genes are arrayed in the order of the biochemical sequence, with one apparent exception, and the linked histidine marker lies outside the tryptophan cluster. Certain discrepancies in the re-combinational values obtained in reciprocal experiments lead to the suggestion that the genes in question lie near one end of a transforming particle with fixed terminations. Alternative explanations are discussed.