Nucleotide sequence of the Bacillus stearothermophilus alpha-amylase gene

Abstract

The nucleotide sequence of the B. stearothermophilus .alpha.-amylase gene and its flanking regions was determined. An open reading frame was found, comprising a total of 1647 base pairs (549 amino acids) and starting from a GUG codon as methionine. It was shown by NH2-terminal amino acid sequence analysis that the extracellular amylase consisted of 515 amino acid residues, which corresponded to a MW of 58,779. Thus the NH2-terminal portion of the gene encodes 34 amino acid residues as a signal peptide. The amino acid sequence deduced from the .alpha.-amylase gene was fairly homologous (61%) with that of another thermostable amylase from B. amyloliquefaciens.