Rhizobium leguminosarum contains multiple chaperonin (cpn60) genes

Two Cpn60 homologues were discovered during the hybridization of an E. coli Cpn60 probe to total DNA from Rhizobium leguminosarum. One of the homologues which did not complement a Cpn60 mutation either for bacteriophagic growth or growth at high temperature, exhibited close homology to Cpn60 sequences from other prokaryotes. Cpn60 enables proteins to fold correctly into their final active conformation.