Plasmid pLC1437a contains DNA from Escherichia coli K12 including fol, the structural gene for dihydrofolate reductase. The fol gene was mapped on this plasmid relative to several restriction endonuclease cleavage sites. fol was also cloned from strain RSO and the nucleotide sequence for the entire fol gene and its flanking regions from this strain was determined. The amino acid sequence predicted from the nucleotide sequence differs in only a few respects from the reported amino acid sequence of dihydrofolate reductase from E. coli B. The major RNA transcripts initiated at the fol promotor in vivo are approximately 550 and 590 nucleotides long. In addition to these, several longer transcripts (up to 1400 nucleotides) are present in lesser amounts. A new procedure is described for 3' end labeling of DNA fragments having blunt ends using E. coli exonuclease III and avian myeloblastoma virus reverse transcriptase.