Bacillus subtilis mutant deficient in the major autolytic amidase and glucosaminidase is impaired in motility

Abstract The purified autolytic endo- β - N -acetylglucosaminidase of Bacillus subtilis AC327 was cleaved with cyanogen bromide, and the N-terminal amino acid sequence of one of the peptide fragments was determined. Then, a DNA fragment containing a part of the glucosaminidase gene was cloned into Escherichia coli JM109 using synthetic oligonucleotides as probes whose sequences had been deduced from the N-terminal amino acid sequence. Zymographic analysis showed that the resultant glucosaminidase-deficient strain lacked a 35-kDa lytic band in addition to a 90-kDa lytic one corresponding to the glucosaminidase. A double mutant strain deficient in the major two autolysins (amidase and glucosaminidase) exhibited greatly impaired motility on a swarm plate whereas the single mutant strains were motile.