title: Genetic structure, isolation and characterization of a Bacillus licheniformis cell wall hydrolase.
abstract: A DNA fragment containing the gene for a cell wall hydrolase of Bacillus licheniformis was cloned into Escherichia coli. Sequencing of the fragment showed the presence of an open reading frame which encodes a polypeptide of 253 amino acids with a molecular mass of 27,513. The gene was designated as cwlM, for cell wall lysis. The deduced amino acid sequence indicated that there is a repeated sequence consisting of 33 amino acid residues in the C-terminal region. Deletion of the C-terminal region did not lead to any loss of cell wall lytic activity. The gene product purified from E. coli cells harboring a cwlM-bearing plasmid exhibited a M(r) value of 29 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gels, and characterization of the specific substrate bond cleaved by CWLM indicated that the enzyme is an N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase (EC 3.5.1.28). The enzyme hydrolyzed the cell wall of Micrococcus luteus more efficiently than those of B. licheniformis and B. subtilis, but the truncated CWLM (lacking the C-terminal region) had lost this preference. CWLM prepared from B. subtilis cells harboring a plasmid containing cwlM had a similar M(r) value to that from E. coli. Amino acid sequence homologies between CWLM and other amidases, and their protein structures are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Funahashi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sekiguchi
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001407:Bacillus / Q000201:enzymology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000201:enzymology*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004926:Escherichia coli; D006867:Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D010957:Plasmids; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D006867:Hydrolases