Discovery and primary study on lon gene in Streptomyces

lon gene,which belongs to a family of heat shock genes,has been found in manykinds of bacteria and animals.Its peptide product is defined as La-protein,which is anATP-dependent serine-proteinase.It always works as heat shock protein.The study on longene only started in the 1980s.During the past decade,great progress has been achievedon the study of the structure,function and regulation of La.The lon gene has been foundin E.coli,Bacillus,Myxococous xanthus,Erwinia amylovora,etc.lon is also foundto be indispensable for vegetative growth in M.xanthus.The strain cannot grow