Recombination protein a gene, recA, from Spirulina platensis IAM-M135

We report the cloning and sequencing of the recA gene from Spirulina platensis. A genomic library of Spirulina was constructed in pUC19 and screened by PCR using oligonucleotides corresponding to the conserved amino acid sequences of Anabaena variabilis and Synechococcus RecA proteins. The Spirulina recA gene consists of an open reading frame (ORF) of 1095 nucleotides encoding a protein (365 residues) which shares an identity of 79%, 70% and 57% with the RecA proteins of Anabaena variabilis, Synechococcus and Escherichia coli respectively. The recA gene is located close to one end of the cloned Bg/II fragment and has only 53 bp of 5' nucleotides. The isolation of this gene has implications for the development of gene transfer system(s) for Spirulina.