The tyrosine phenol lyase (TPL) gene was cloned from the genomic DNA of aEscherichia intermediastrain and the nucleotide sequence of the TPL structural gene was determined. The 1801 bpHincll-NrulDNA fragment containing the TPL gene had an open reading frame of 1368 bp and the deduced amino acid sequence was 456 residues long with a molecular weight of 51,441 daltons.