Expression of the Proteus mirabilis lipoprotein gene in Escherichia coli. Existence of tandem promoters

The lpp gene from Proteus mirabilis was cloned onto pBR322 and expressed in Escherichia coli. The P. mirabilis lpp gene is unique in that it has two tandem promoters transcribing two mRNAs that differ in length by approximately 70 nucleotides at their 5'-ends. The two mRNAs thus encode the identical lipoprotein. The P. mirabilis prolipoprotein has a 19-amino acid signal peptide and a 59-amino acid lipoprotein sequence. In spite of the substantial differences in the amino acid sequence from the E. coli prolipoprotein, the P. mirabilis prolipoprotein is normally modified and processed in E. coli, and the resultant lipoprotein is assembled in the E. coli outer membrane as is the E. coli lipoprotein.