Cloning of Chitinase-Encoding Gene From Bacillus circulans into Lactic Acid Bacteria(Thai)

Abstract

A Chitinase gene from the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus circulans No. 4.1 was cloned in Enterococcus faecalis JCM8726 and in Lactococcus lactis L14, isolated from fermented pork. The chitinase gene was not expressed as an active enzyme in either strain. Moreover, L. lactis, containing several native plasmids in their cells, showed incompatibility to the plasmid. The chitinase gene expression in the Enterococci strain was not due to plasmid deletion, because the plasmid isolated from them showed normal chitinase activity when retransformed into Escherichia coli DH5α. It might be caused by regulatory processing in different cells, such as promoter, Shine-Dalgano (SD) sequence, codon usage, etc.