title: Identification and characterization of a polysaccharide deacetylase gene from Bacillus thuringiensis.
abstract: One polysaccharide deacetylase gene was cloned from Bacillus thuringiensis and designated pdaA. Disruption of pdaA did not affect vegetative growth and sporulation but obviously affected spore germination. When L-alanine was added into the spore suspension, the spores of the pdaA disruption mutant showed a slow and partial reduction in absorbance at OD600 and became phase pale gray compared with phase dark of the wild-type strain. In contrast with the outgrowing of wild-type spores after germination, the pdaA mutant spores were blocked at the stage of spore germination. Transmission electron micrographs revealed a significant difference between the pdaA mutant and the wild-type strain in the spore cortex. Introduction of the pdaA gene into the pdaA disruption mutant complemented the germination-negative phenotype. Reverse transcription--polymerase chain reaction showed that pdaA was transcribed after incubation for 10 h in CCY medium.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Haihua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Huarong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000581:Amidohydrolases / Q000235:genetics*; D001413:Bacillus thuringiensis / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D009154:Mutation; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D000581:Amidohydrolases; C022427:polysaccharide deacetylase