Four genes encoding ribosomal proteins HmaS17, HmaL14, HmaL24 and HS3, have been identified in the λEMBL3 clone PP∗7 from a genomic library of the archaebacterium Halobacterium marismortui. The clone contains genes from the ‘S10 and spectinomycin’ operon equivalent region. Three of the deduced proteins are homologous to the corresponding Escherichia coli and Methancoccus vannielii S17, L14 and L24 proteins, as well as to eukaryotic proteins from rat or yeast. HS3 was identified as an extra protein corresponding to the gene product for orfc in M. vannielii and the eukaryotic ribosomal protein RS4 from rat. The equivalence of HmaL24 (HL16) and E. coli L24, which share only 28% identical amino acid residues, could now be shown by localizing the HmaL24 gene at the same position in the cluster.
