Biochemistry of Plants, Faculty of Biology, Ruhr University Bochum, Federal Republic of Germany.
The nucleotide sequence of the gene cysH from Escherichia coli K12 was determined. The open reading frame was 735 nucleotides in length; it was flanked by a repetitive palindromic sequence centred 36 nucleotides upstream of cysH and a terminator-like structure located 20 nucleotides downstream. CysH encoded a polypeptide of Mr 27927 consisting of 244 amino acids. The gene product was isolated as a homodimer exhibiting phospho-adenylylsulphate reductase (PAPS reductase) activity. The active enzyme was devoid of electron transferring cofactors and contained only one cysteine per subunit. Reduction of the enzyme by dithiols resulted in a shift of the apparent molecular weight from 44,000 to 62,000 without formation of an enzyme-thioredoxin complex.