title: Site-directed mutagenesis of the calcium-binding site of alpha-amylase of Bacillus licheniformis.
abstract: Amylases that are active under acidic conditions (pH <6), at higher temperatures (>70 degrees C) and have less reliance on Ca(2+) are required for starch hydrolysis. The alpha-amylase gene of Bacillus licheniformis MTCC 6598 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. The calcium-binding site spanning amino acid residues from 104 to 200 in the loop regions of domain B and D430 in domain C of amylase were changed by site-directed mutagenesis and the resultant mutant amylases were analyzed. Calcium-binding residues, N104, D161, D183, D200 and D430, were replaced with D104 and N161, N183, N200 and N430, respectively. Mutant amylase with N104D had a slightly decreased activity at 30 degrees C but a significantly improved specific activity at pH 5 and 70 degrees C, which is desirable character for a food enzyme. The amylase mutants with D183N or D200N lost all activity while the mutant amylase with D161N retained its activity at 30 degrees C but had significantly less activity at 70 degrees C. On the other hand, the activity of the mutant amylase with D430N was not changed at 30 degrees C but had an improved activity at 70 degrees C.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Centre for Excellence in Genomic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 625 021, India.
authors.forename: Ramachandran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Priyadharshini
authors.forename: Paramasamy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gunasekaran
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001407:Bacillus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed / Q000379:methods*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013696:Temperature; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D000516:alpha-Amylases; D002118:Calcium