Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, UK.
The sequence of a 28 kbp segment of DNA surrounding the spoVM gene of Bacillus subtilis 168 (lying at approximately 145 degrees on the standard genetic map) has been determined. The region contains 27 ORFs, a number of which have predicted products significantly similar to proteins in sequence databases, particularly to proteins involved in macromolecular synthesis of nucleic acids, proteins and phospholipids. A pair of closely linked genes encode a likely serine protein phosphatase and a serine protein kinase, respectively. Such proteins play important regulatory roles in eukaryotic cells but are rare in prokaryotes.