P. putida (oleovorans) GPo1 utilizes medium-chainlength
alkanes as its sole carbon and energy source and
has been studied in detail with respect to the genetics
and enzymology of alkane oxidation (reviewed by van
Beilen et al., 1994) (Fig. 1). We cloned and sequenced
DNAsegments ¯anking the alk genes of GPo1 to identify
additional genes involved in alkane degradation and to
investigate the possibility that the alk genes of this strain
are organized in a transposon-like structure. To be able
to judge the signi®cance of sequence features and gene
organization of the GPo1 alk genes, we also cloned and
sequenced the related alk genes of P. putida P1.