Characteristics of alpha-amylase formation by Bacillus subtilis

Production and partial characterization of thermostable and calcium-independent alpha-amylase of an extreme thermophile Bacillus thermooleovorans NP54

AIM

An investigation was carried out on the production of alpha-amylase by Bacillus thermooleovorans NP54, its partial purification and characterization.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The thermophilic bacterium was grown in shake flasks and a laboratory fermenter containing 2% soluble starch, 0.3% tryptone, 0.3% yeast extract and 0.1% K2HPO4 at 70 degrees C and pH 7.0, agitated at 200 rev min(-1) with 6-h-old inoculum (2% v/v) for 12 h. When the enzyme was partially purified using acetone (80%[v/v] saturation), a 43.7% recovery of enzyme with 6.2-fold purification was recorded. The KM and Vmax (soluble starch) values were 0.83 mg ml(-1) and 250 micromol mg(-1) protein min(-1), respectively. The enzyme was optimally active at 100 degrees C and pH 8.0 with a half-life of 3 h at 100 degrees C. Both alpha-amylase activity and production were Ca2+ independent.

CONCLUSIONS

Bacillus thermooleovorans NP54 produced calcium-independent and thermostable alpha-amylase.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The calcium-independent and thermostable alpha-amylase of B. thermooleovorans NP54 will be extremely useful in starch saccharification since the alpha-amylases used in the starch industry are calcium dependent. The use of this enzyme in starch hydrolysis eliminates the use of calcium in starch liquefaction and subsequent removal by ion exchange.

Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase gene, amyL, is subject to promoter-independent catabolite repression in Bacillus subtilis

Expression of the Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase gene, amyL, was temporally activated and subject to catabolite repression both in its natural host and when cloned on a 3.55-kilobase fragment in Bacillus subtilis. A subclone from which the promoter region of amyL and sequences upstream from the promoter were deleted had a low level of amylase activity. Expression of the promoterless gene was still subject to repression by glucose when the gene was present either on a multicopy plasmid or integrated into the B. subtilis chromosome. Catabolite repression occurred independently of the amylase promoter and irrespective of the distance of the promoterless amyL gene from the promoter which transcribed it. The transcriptional start sites of amyL activated by its own promoter and by a vector sequence promoter were determined by S1 mapping. alpha-Amylase-specific mRNA levels were measured in repressing and nonrepressing media, and catabolite repression was found to act at the level of transcription.

Regulatory factors affecting alpha-amylase production in bacillus licheniformis

Possible factors regulating alpha-mylase synthesis in wild-type Bacillus licheniformis and in mutants producing elevated levels of the enzyme were studied in terms of catabolite repression, apparent temperature-sensitive repression, induction, and culture age. The synthesis of alpha-amylase in the parent strain occurred long after the culture reached the stationary phase of growth as a result of de novo protein synthesis, occurred only at high temperature around 50 C and not below 45 C, appeared to be induced in the presence of oligosaccharides with some linkage of alpha-1,4-, beta-1,4, beta-1,6-glucosyl glucose, or alpha-1,6-galactosyl glucose, and was repressed by the addition of exogenous glucose or low-molecular-weight metabolites. The addition of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate stimulated alpha-amylase accumulation in growing cultures of the parent strain, but neither shortened the long lap period prior to the start of alpha-amylase synthesis nor mitigated the repressive effect of glucose. Mutant strains derived from the parent strain showed variation in the pattern of alpha-amylase synthesis, and some of them such as F-12s and F-14 produced alpha-amylase constitutively and without sensitivity to catabolite repression or transient repression from the moment of cell growth. These results are discussed in relation to possible regulatory mechanisms that might account for the observed characteristics of alpha-amylase synthesis in this facultative thermophilic microorganism.

Regulation of staphylococcal enterotoxin B

Several factors influenced the formation of enterotoxin B by Staphylococcus aureus strain S-6. In the standard casein hydrolysate medium, toxin was not produced in detectable quantities during exponential growth; it was produced during the post-exponential phase when total protein synthesis was arithmetic. The rate of toxin synthesis was much greater than the rate of total protein synthesis. The appearance of enterotoxin was inhibited by chloramphenicol; thus, the presence of toxin was dependent on de novo protein synthesis. When low concentrations of glucose (<0.30%) were added to the casein hydrolysate medium, growth was diauxic; glucose was completely metabolized during the first growth period. During the second growth period, enterotoxin was synthesized. In unbuffered casein hydrolysate medium containing excess glucose, toxin synthesis was completely repressed. The absence of toxin production under such conditions might be explained by the low (4.6) pH resulting from the acid end products of glucose metabolism. At pH <5.0, little or no toxin was produced. Toxin synthesis was initiated in the presence of glucose when the medium were buffered at any pH above 5.6. In such media, the differential rates of toxin synthesis, with respect to the rates of total protein synthesis, were lower than the differential rates in casein hydrolysate medium alone. Addition of glucose to a culture synthesizing toxin resulted in an immediate decrease in the differential rate without any change in pH. Thus, toxin synthesis appeared to be regulated by catabolite repression.

Comparison of the alpha-amylase of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

The alpha-amylase (alpha-1,4-glucan 4-glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1) of Bacillus subtilis strain W23 is less negatively-charged than the alpha-amylase of B. amyloliquefaciens strain F, as determined by electrophoretic mobility in polyacrylamide gel at pH 8.6. The alpha-amylase of strain W23 is immunologically unrelated to the alpha-amylase of strain F, as judged by lack of cross-reaction in Ouchterlony immunodiffusion studies. The pH range of maximal activity for the enzyme of strain W23 was 5.7 to 6.7, with a maximum at 6.3. The pH range of activity for the alpha-amylase of strain F was 5.5 to 6.5, with a maximum at 5.9. No significant difference was found in the effect of temperature on the activity of the alpha-amylase of strain W23 and strain F. alpha-Amylase production by strain W23 occurs throughout the 7-hr growth period, whereas enzyme production by strain F does not begin until the culture enters the stationary phase of growth. The total amounts of enzyme produced by strains W23 and F after 7 hr of growth were 0.3 and 25.5 units/ml, respectively.