Escherichia coli delta cya-283 is a 75-bp in-frame deletion overlapping the 5' end of delta cya-854; delta cya-201 is a 41-bp frameshift deletion overlapping the 3' end of delta cya-854. Sequence repeats were found at the boundaries of delta cya-283 and delta cya-201, suggesting a mechanism for deletion formation. Recombinant DNA procedures were used to construct a strain in which the total cya structural gene in the chromosome was replaced by the kanamycin resistance gene.