title: Prospecting for novel lipase genes using PCR.
abstract: A PCR method suitable for the isolation of lipase genes directly from environmental DNA is described. The problems associated with the low levels of similarity between lipase genes were overcome by extensive analysis of conserved regions and careful primer design. Using this method, a lipase gene (oli-lipase) was isolated directly from environmental DNA. This lipase showed less than 20% similarity with other known lipases at the amino acid level. The study also revealed that distantly related members of the alpha/beta hydrolase superfamily share similar conserved motifs with the lipases, thus making these genes targets for gene prospecting by PCR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia1.
authors.forename: Philip J L
authors.initials: PJL
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Physikalische Biochemie, Universitat Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25 D-14476 Golm, Germany2.
authors.forename: Anwar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sunna
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia1.
authors.forename: Moreland D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Gibbs
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia1.
authors.forename: Natalie C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Curach
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia1.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nevalainen
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine, University of Auckland School of Medicine, Private Bag 92109, Auckland, New Zealand3.|Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia1.
authors.forename: Peter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Bergquist
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000235:genetics; D018533:Biomass; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004777:Environment; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes; D006867:Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008049:Lipase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D006867:Hydrolases; D008049:Lipase