PARTICIPATION OF A REGULATOR GENE IN ALPHA-AMYLASE PRODUCTION OF BACILLUS SUBTILIS

Bacillus natto IAM 1212 produces α-amylase by about 5 times as much as Bacillus subtilis Marburg strain, α-amylase of which is more thermostable and moves more rapidly to anode at pH 8.3 than that of B. natto. When this high producing activity of a-amylase (Amysup character) was transferred to a Marburg strain by the DNA from B. natto, about one-tenth of the transformants with Amysup character produced recipient type, i.e. Marburg type α-amylase and the other natto type α-amylase. In other words, the former acquired only high producing activity of α-amylase. This result suggests that a gene which regulates α-amylase synthesis participates in the α-amylase-producing system of B. subtilis and this regulator gene (amyR) is closely linked to the α-amylase structure gene. Reciprocal crossing also confirmed this assumption. The amyR gene is linked to the aro116 gene which has been reported to be the linked marker of α-amylase structure gene by S. Yuki. © 1969, Applied Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Research Foundation. All rights reserved.