The N-terminal region of the coat proteins of five strains (Isis, Brisbane, Sabi, Bundaberg, and BC) of sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) isolated from four different plant species (sugarcane, sabi grass, wild sorghum, and blue couch grass) have been compared with the previously published data for SCMV-SC and SCMV-MDB, isolated from sugarcane and maize, respectively. The region, beginning at residue 11 and ending 16 residues beyond the second trypsin cleavage site of the coat protein, varied in size from 68 amino acid residues (Bundaberg) to 115 residues (BC) and contained repeat sequence motifs. Comparisons of the sequence identity and the nature of the repeats in the seven sequences showed that there were five different sequence patterns. These could be grouped further into three subsets which appeared to correlate with the host range of the strains. SCMV-Brisbane, SC, and Isis, isolated from sugarcane, showed almost identical sequence patterns and formed one subset. The other four strains had different sequence patterns and could be grouped further into a Sabi and Bundaberg subset (isolated from sabi grass), and a BC and MDB subset.

Cephalosporin 7 alpha-hydroxylase, which catalyses the conversion of cephalosporins into their 7 alpha-hydroxy derivatives, was purified nearly 390-fold from Streptomyces clavuligerus through ion-exchange chromatography, (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, gel filtration and dye chromatography, with the use of h.p.l.c. to monitor enzyme activity. The nearly pure enzyme migrates as a single major band, with an Mr of 32,000 in SDS/PAGE. Its optimum pH is in the range 7.3-7.7. Under our conditions the reaction was fastest at temperatures in the range 20-30 degrees C. The Km for cephalosporin C is 0.72 mM, and the Vmax. is 15.4 mumol of cephalosporin C hydroxylated/min per mg. Cephalosporin 7 alpha-hydroxylase did not show any deacetoxycephalosporin C synthase or deacetoxycephalosporin C hydroxylase activity.

Escherichia coli W3110 was found to be 50 times more sensitive to cephamycin C than to cephalosporin C, and also markedly more sensitive to 7a-methoxycephalosporin C than to 7ct-hydroxycephalospofin C. Accordingly, this organism could be used to establish a bioassay of cephalosporin C 7a-methoxylation by a Streptomyces clavuli~lerus cell-free extract. The bioassay results were complemented by HPLC analysis. Modification of the mobile phase from 100mM NaH2PO4, p H 4.2, to 200 raM, pH 4.0, improved HPLC resolution such that an unidentified peak could be separated from the 7a-hydroxycephalosporin C peak, and the formation of this intermediate as well as the product, 7a-methoxycephalosporin C, could be directly measured in the cell-free reaction system.

A 26-mer DNA probe was designed from N-terminal sequence data for the cephalosporin 7a-hydroxylase (CH) of Streptomyces clavuligerus NRRL 3585 and used to screen a DNA library from this organism. The library was constructed in the AGEM-1l phage system. After plaque purification and reprobing, positive recombinant phages were chosen for further analysis. Characterization of the cloned DNA by restriction mapping and Southern hybridization showed that a 1.5-kb SailI fragment hybridized to the probe. Polymerase chain reaction assays using this fragment as a template and the probe as a primer indicated that the fragment carries the entire putative CH gene (cmcl). This was confirmed through the expression of CH enzymatic activity when the fragment was introduced into Streptomyces lividans. A putative 13-lactamase activity was detected in S. lividans.Some actinomycetes produce 7a-methoxylated cephalosporins, which are named cephamycins. Methoxylation of cephalosporins increases their inhibitory effect on transpeptidase(s) involved in bacterial cell wall synthesis (7) and reduces inactivation by 3-lactamases (2), making the cephamycins important clinical antibiotics. As a representative of cephamycins, cephamycin C exhibits activity against many cephalosporin-resistant bacteria (11). The cephalosporinproducing fungi and the cephamycin-producing actinomycetes share a biosynthetic pathway from L-a-aminoadipate, L-cysteine, and L-valine to deacetylcephalosporin C (3). However, the cephalosporin-producing fungi lack the methoxylation system to convert cephalosporins into cephamycins. Many, if not all, biosynthetic genes involved in the common pathway have been cloned from fungi and actinomycetes. The cloning of the genes for cyclase, epimerase, expandase, and deacetoxycephalosporin C hydroxylase has been reviewed elsewhere (14). More recently, the cloning of the oa-aminoadipyl-cysteinyl-valine (ACV) synthetase gene from Cephalosporium acremonium has also been reported (4, 10). On the other hand, the cloning of the individual genes involved in 7a-methoxylation of cephalosporins has not been reported, although Chen et al. (1) have described the cloning and expression of a cluster of genes for cephamycin C production from Streptomyces cattleya in the nonproducer Streptomyces lividans. Streptomyces clavuligerus cell-free enzymatic reactions indicate that methoxylation by actinomycetes occurs in two steps (8,12,18). The first step is the hydroxylation of cephalosporin at C-7, and the second step is methylation. Cephalosporin 7a-hydroxylase (CH), which catalyzes the first step, was purified to near homogeneity from S. clavuligerus NRRL 3585 (19). In the present study, using a degenerate mixed-oligonucleotide probe designed * Corresponding author.

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