Sequence analysis of the 308° to 311° segment of the Bacillus subtilis 168 chromosome, a region devoted to cell wall metabolism, containing non-coding grey holes which reveal chromosomal rearrangements

SUMMARY: The 29·71 kb chromosomal region of Bacillus subtilis 168 extending from 308° to 311° contains 18 ORFs. Functions of most of these ORFs were identified and associated with cell wall metabolism. Sequences of two non-coding regions of 0-7 and 2-2 kb flanking the ggaAB operon involved in the synthesis of poly(3-0-ß-D-glucopyranosyl N-acetylgalactosamine 1-phosphate), a minor teichoic acid, correspond to five degenerate segments of neighbouring protein-coding regions. We discuss the possibility that such grey holes are indicative of a chromosomal rearrangement which could have arisen from horizontal gene transfer.