Molecular cloning of alpha-amylase gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and its expression in B. subtilis

The gene coding for alpha-amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was isolated by direct shotgun cloning using B. subtilis as a host. The genome of B. amyloliquefaciens was partially digested with the restriction endonuclease MboI and 2- to 5-kb fragments were isolated and joined to plasmid pUB110. Competent B. subtilis amylase-negative cells were transformed with the hybrid plasmids and kanamycin-resistant transformants were screened for the production of alpha-amylase. One of the transformants producing high amounts of alpha-amylase was characterized further. The alpha-amylase gene was shown to be present in a 2.3-kb insert. The alpha-amylase production of the transformed B. subtilis could be prevented by inserting lambda DNA fragments into unique sites of EcoRI, HindIII and KpnI in the insert. Foreign DNA inserted into a unique ClaI site failed to affect the alpha-amylase production. The amount of alpha-amylase activity produced by this transformed B. subtilis was about 2500-fold higher than that for the wild-type B. subtilis Marburg strain, and about 5 times higher than the activity produced by the donor B. amyloliquefaciens strain. Virtually all of the alpha-amylase was secreted into the culture medium. The secreted alpha-amylase was shown to be indistinguishable from that of B. amyloliquefaciens as based on immunological and biochemical criteria.     

Cloning and Expression of a Schwanniomyces occidentalis alpha-Amylase Gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

An alpha-amylase gene (AMY) was cloned from Schwanniomyces occidentalis CCRC 21164 into Saccharomyces cerevisiae AH22 by inserting Sau3AI-generated DNA fragments into the BamHI site of YEp16. The 5-kilobase insert was shown to direct the synthesis of alpha-amylase. After subclones containing various lengths of restricted fragments were screened, a 3.4-kilobase fragment of the donor strain DNA was found to be sufficient for alpha-amylase synthesis. The concentration of alpha-amylase in culture broth produced by the S. cerevisiae transformants was about 1.5 times higher than that of the gene donor strain. The secreted alpha-amylase was shown to be indistinguishable from that of Schwanniomyces occidentalis on the basis of molecular weight and enzyme properties.     

利用同源重组建立地中海拟无枝菌酸菌U32染色体的基因置换/中断系统

地中海拟无枝菌酸菌U32是力复霉素SV的工业产生菌,其遗传操作一直是一个难题。在该菌株DNA高效电转化的基础上,利用同源重组的原理,建立了地中海拟无枝菌酸菌染色体的基因置换/中断系统。通过大肠杆菌重组质粒pDK110构建、转化及两步重组筛选,成功地用α淀粉酶基因（amy）取代了地中海拟无枝菌酸菌U32染色体上的3-氨基-5-羟基苯甲酸合成酶基因（ahbas）。第一步单交换和第二步双交换的频率分别是0.5%～0.7% 和 2%。将质粒pDK110变性后转化可显著提高重组频率,在第二步筛选双交换前对单交换重组子进行电击也能够提高其双交换重组的频率。此外,通过转化构建的两端带同源区段的线性DNA片段及一步重组筛选,我们在地中海拟无枝菌酸菌U32染色体的amrD,rifO基因中间插入了阿普拉霉素抗性基因（apr）,其效率约为30～50转化子/μgDNA。     

A universal instinct for designing thermoregulated promotors in gram-positive bacteria]

The construction of plasmid pVKH300, which is useful for modifying any promoter into the thermoregulated form in B. subtilis cells, is presented. The main features of the plasmid are the presence of effectively expressed in B. subtilis lambda C1857 gene and recognition site of BglII restriction enzyme between OR2 and OR3 lambda phage operator sites. Promoterless alpha-amylase gene of B. amyloliquefaciens is used as a reporter gene for promoter cloning into BglII site of pVKH300. Examples of promoter-containing DNA fragments cloning with pVKH300 as vector are presented. It was found that the best regulated promoter, in a plasmid named pVKH332, was cloned in such a way that the distance between central nucleotides of OR2 and OR3 is equal to integer number of DNA helix turns (84 b.p. in the case).     

以gfp为报告基因的肺炎链球菌启动子诱捕文库的构建与分析

首先构建一个以gfp(green fluorescence protein)为报告基因的自杀质粒pEVP3-SDGFP,将肺炎链球菌基因组DNA的随机酶切片段(200bp～800 bp)克隆到该质粒gfp基因上游的多克隆位点,得到约58000个含有肺炎链球茵基因组DNA随机酶切片段的重组子,提取质粒即为质粒库,该库大约覆盖肺炎链球菌基因组全长的5倍,插入率达到90%以上,且有较强的随机性,质量较高.将该质粒库转化入肺炎链球菌TIGR4菌株,带有随机片段的报告质粒通过同源重组的方式将gfp基因融合于细菌染色体上该随机片段之后,利用质粒的抗生素抗性基因筛选出重组菌株,从而构建出相应的菌株库,共获得包含约500000个肺炎链球菌转化子的菌株库,经体内、外实验表明,其包含插入了S.pn体内、外表达基因片段的细菌,可以报告特定条件下的基因表达,并可通过流式细胞仪识别、分选.该文库的构建为进一步利用差异荧光诱导技术筛选肺炎链球菌体内诱导基因奠定了基础.     

Cloning the alpha-amylase gene of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in cyanobacteria cells

The recombinant plasmids of pIAH4amy series were constructed containing the alpha-amylase gene of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens A50 with its own promoter and leading sequence within an integrative vector plasmid pIAH4 (CmR) for cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans R2. At Anacystis nidulans transformation the hybrid plasmids integrate into cyanobacterium chromosome with high efficiency and all CmR transformants produce alpha-amylase. Expression of bacillar alpha-amylase gene in cyanobacterium cells is independent of the cloned gene orientation in the vector plasmid. Secretion of alpha-amylase into the cyanobacterial periplasm has been demonstrated.     

芝田硫化叶菌新型α-淀粉酶基因在大肠杆菌的克隆和表达

A novel α-amylase gene was amplified from Sulfolobus shibatae by using PCR technique.The amplified 1.7kb DNA fragment was inserted into an expression vector pBV220 to yield the recombinant plasmid pSBAM. The novel α-amylase gene in pSBAM was expressed in E. coli. The production of the novel α-amylase activity reached over 8 units/100mL of the culture. The molecular weight of this enzyme was about 61kD by SDS-PAGE. The expressed novel α-amylase protein in E.coli DHSα accounted for about 20 % of the total protein in the recombinant cell. The cooperative action of the novel α-amylase and the maltooligosyltrehalose synthase from Sulfolobus shibatae was investigated and trehalose was detected by using HPLC analysis when using amylose and partial starch hydrolysates as substrates.     

Construction of an Arxula adeninivorans host-vector system based on trp1 complementation

A host/vector expression system based on an Arxula adeninivorans Delta atrp1 gene disruption mutant has been constructed. For this purpose the ATRP1 gene encoding a phosphoribosyl anthranilate isomerase was isolated from the yeast A. adeninivorans and its genome locus was characterized. The Delta atrp1 mutant was generated applying an amplified DNA fragment containing the ALEU2m gene flanked by ATRP1 gene sequences of some 750 bp. The generated auxotrophic host strain was transformed with the plasmid pAL-ATRP1-amyA, which contains the ATRP1 gene as selection marker and the 25S rDNA for targeting. For expression assessment, the plasmid was equipped with an expression cassette consisting of the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens-derived amyA gene fused to the constitutive A. adeninivorans-derived TEF1 promoter and Saccharomyces cerevisiae-derived PHO5 terminator. Transformants contained a single chromosomal copy of the heterologous DNA and were found to be mitotically stable. In initial fermentation trials on a 200 ml shake flask scale maximal alpha-amylase product levels of ca. 300 nkat ml(-1) were observed after 72 h of cultivation with more than 95% of the recombinant alpha-amylase accumulated in the culture medium.     

Cloning of the virulence regulatory (vir) locus of Bordetella pertussis and its expression in B. bronchiseptica

The gene coding for a thermostable alpha-amylase from Clostridium thermosulfurogenes (DSM 3896) was cloned in Escherichia coli using pUC18 as a vector. The recombinant plasmid pCT2 of an amylolytic positive transformant of E. coli contained a 2.9 kbp fragment of chromosomal DNA of C. thermosulfurogenes carrying the alpha-amylase gene. In E. coli the gene was apparently transcribed by its own promoter. Comparative studies showed no difference between the original and the heterologously in E. coli expressed enzyme. The latter was not secreted into the medium.     

Molecular cloning of cis-acting regulatory alleles of the Bacillus subtilis amyR region by using gene conversion transformation.

Three cis-acting alleles (gra-10, gra-5, and amyR2) of the Bacillus subtilis amyR promoter locus each cause catabolite repression-resistance of amyE-encoded alpha-amylase synthesis. The gra-10, gra-5, and amyR2 alleles were transferred from the chromosomes of their respective hosts to a plasmid carrying the amyR1-amyE+ gene by the process of gene conversion which is carried out during transformation of competent B. subtilis by plasmid clones carrying homologous DNA. The cloned amyR promoter regions containing the gra-10 and gra-5 mutations were shown to confer catabolite repression-resistance in cis to the synthesis of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase encoded by the cat-86 indicator gene when subcloned into the promoter-probe plasmid pPL603B. Implications concerning both the regulation of amyR utilization and the process of gene conversion in B. subtilis are discussed.     

Construction and use of signal sequence selection vectors in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.

To study the diversity and efficiency of signal peptides for secreted proteins in gram-positive bacteria, two plasmid vectors were constructed which were used to probe for export signal-coding regions in Bacillus subtilis. The vectors contained genes coding for extracellular proteins (the alpha-amylase gene from Bacillus licheniformis and the beta-lactamase gene from Escherichia coli) which lacked a functional signal sequence. By shotgun cloning of restriction fragments from B. subtilis chromosomal DNA, a great variety of different export-coding regions were selected. These regions were functional both in B. subtilis and in E. coli. In a number of cases where protein export had been restored, intracellular precursor proteins of increased size could be detected, which upon translocation across the cellular membrane were processed to mature products. The high frequency with which export signal-coding regions were obtained suggests that, in addition to natural signal sequences, many randomly cloned sequences can function as export signal.