Plasmid analysis in polyglutamate-producing bacillus strain isolated from non-salty fermented soybean food, “kinema,” in nepal

Abstract

A 7-polyglutamate (7-PGA)-producing Bacillus strain was isolated from “kinema” in Nepal and found to harbor a plasmid species. The hybridized region on the kinema plasmid, pNKH, with the 7-PGA production-stimulating factor (PSF) gene (psf) on “natto” plasmid pUHl, which is responsible for 7-PGA production in Bacillus subtilis (natto), was identified, and the nucleotide sequence was determined. Only one possible open reading frame (ORF) was found which was 1,281 bp in length. The ORF could potentially encode a polypeptide consisting of 427 amino acids with a molecular weight of 50,251. The polypeptide was found to be 7 residues longer than that of pUHl PSF. The percent match of the amino acid sequence between pNKH ORF and pUHl PSF was 92%. These results suggest that the plasmid pNKH of kinema Bacillus might be responsible for 7-PGA production in kinema fermentation. © 1995, Applied Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Research Foundation. All rights reserved.