The potential for two complementary fragments of DNA from a clone from the ruminal bacterium Prevotella albensisto encode sequences with homology to at least part of functional proteins is described. One strand contains a sequence with high homology to dnaK,a member of the hsp70family, and the other strand contains a sequence with some homology to glutamate dehydrogenase genes. Overlapping of these two genes on opposite strands has been reported in eukaryotic species, and is now reported for the first time in a bacterial species. Further investigation of previously described dnaKgenes demonstrates that it is more widespread than might be anticipated, with all thirty other dnaKgenes investigated also retaining long sequences encoding at least part of a sequence with high homology to a glutamate dehydrogenase gene.