Borrelia burgdorferi uridine kinase: an enzyme of the pyrimidine salvage pathway for endogenous use of nucleotides

The 621 bp udk gene encoding Borrelia burgdorferi potential uridine kinase, involved in the pyrimidine salvage pathway, was cloned and sequenced. The B burgdorferi protein has a molecular mass of 24 kDa in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. The N-terminal sequence of the protein, Ala-Lys-Ile-Ile, is identical to that predicted but lacks N-terminal methionine. udk is located at around 15 kb from the left telomere and forms an operon with an upstream ORF. A likely hypothesis for the role of the pyrimidine salvage pathway is the sole use of endogenous nucleotides for Borrelia.