Together with bioinformatic analyses it is possible to produce a more reliable model for the protein being examined. Deh4p has been demonstrated to be an atypical MFS protein with an asymmetric organization

and a long periplasmic loop. Although high-resolution structural study is ultimately required to elucidate the actual structure of Deh4p with certainty, the current data are sufficient to conclude the major structural features of Deh4p. Methods Strains and culture conditions E. coli TOP10 (Invitrogen) was used for gene cloning and expression of the fusion proteins. E. coli cells were grown at 37°C in Luria broth (LB, 1% tryptone, 0.5% yeast extract, 0.5% NaCl) with or without 100 μg/ml ampicillin. Burkholderia sp. MBA4 Belinostat solubility dmso (previously B. cepacia) was isolated from soil using monobromoacetate as the growth enrichment substrate [8]. MBA4 was grown at 30°C in Luria broth without NaCl. Construction

of PhoA-LacZ reporter plasmids DNA fragment encoding PhoA and LacZα was PCR amplified from plasmid pMA632 [33] with primers SpeI-reporter-F (5′-ACTAG TGTTC TGGAA AACCG GGCTG CTCA-3′) and Reporter-stop-R (5′-GAGCT TCATT CGCCA TTCAG GCTGC GCAAC TG-3′). The amplified fragment was cloned downstream of the lac promoter of vector pCR2.1-TOPO by TOPO-TA cloning (Invitrogen). A plasmid with the reporters in the correct orientation was designated as pHKU1433. Ribosomal promoter S12 of MBA4 (P s 12 ) was amplified from MBA4 total DNA with primers HindIII-S12-Fwd (5′-AAGCT TCGCA AGCCG TTGAC TTAGT TGG-3′) and S12-BsiWI-Rev (5′-CGTAC GACCA GTTGG TTGAT GG-3′). The deh4p gene was similarly amplified with primers Smoothened antagonist Phosphoribosylglycinamide formyltransferase BsiWI-4p-Fwd (5′-CGTAC GGATG GCGAC TATTG A-3′) and 4p552R-speI (5′-ACTAG TGTCC GCGTC ATAGG TAGAA GAACC CTT-3′). Both PCR products were individually cloned into pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega). The PS12 -containing fragment was subsequently isolated by digesting the plasmid

with HindIII and BsiWI. The deh4p-bearing fragment was isolated by digesting the plasmid with BsiWI and SpeI. These DNA fragments were mixed with HindIII and SpeI cut pHKU1433 and ligated with T4 DNA ligase. A plasmid with Ps12 -deh4p ligated upstream of phoA-lacZ was assembled and named as pHKU1601-552. Truncated derivatives containing partial deh4p were constructed by amplifying P s 12 and deh4p from pHKU1601-552 using primer HindIII-S12-Fwd and a reverse primer 4pXYZR-speI where XYZ stands for the end point of the residue number of Deh4p. The names and sequences of the reverse primers used are shown in Table 1. The amplified fragments were cloned into pGEM-T Easy and isolated by cutting with HindIII and SpeI. These fragments were then cloned into HindIII and SpeI cut pHKU1433 to form pHKU1601-XYZ where XYZ is defined as previously. A total of 35 truncated derivatives were constructed. Table 1 Reverse primers used for the construction of plasmid pHKU1601 series.