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The sequence of a 1409 base pair restriction fragment containing the B. subtilis gene for (1-3), (1-4)-beta-D-glucan endoglucanase is reported. The gene is encoded in a 726 base pair segment. The deduced amino acid sequence of the protein has a hydrophobic signal peptide at the NH2-terminus similar to those found in five other secreted proteins from Bacillus. The gene is preceded by a sequence resembling promoters for the vegetative B. subtilis RNA polymerase. This is followed by a sequence resembling a B. subtilis ribosome binding site nine nucleotides before the first codon of the gene. Two sequences, one before and one after the gene, can be arranged in secondary structures similar to transcriptional terminators. There is also a short open reading frame coding for a hydrophobic protein on the minus strand just upstream from the beta-glucanase gene. A possible role for this gene in the control of expression of beta-glucanase is suggested.

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Two genes have been identified as up-regulated late during ConA-induced apoptosis in procyclic form Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense. The first represents a homologue of prohibitin, a proto-oncogene originally described in mammals and subsequently in yeast, which is involved in cell-cycle control and senescence. The Trypanosoma prohibitin homologue appears to contain within it a putative death domain. The second gene, homologous to a family of regulatory proteins which are receptors for activated protein kinase C (RACKs), is also shown to be up-regulated in terminally differentiated bloodstream form trypanosomes. These are the first endogenous genes to be identified as upregulated in programmed cell death (PCD) in unicellular organisms.

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