Abstract.
A novel gram-positive, strictly aerobic, motile, sporulating, and facultatively alkaliphilic bacterium designated KSM-KP43 was isolated from a sample of soil. The results of 16S rRNA sequence analysis placed this bacterium in a cluster with Bacillus halmapalus. However, the level of the DNA–DNA hybridization of KSM-KP43 with B. halmapalus was less than 25%. Moreover, the G+C contents of the genomic DNA were 41.6 mol% for KSM-KP43 and 38.6 mol% for B. halmapalus. Because there were also differences in physiological properties and cellular fatty acid composition between the two organisms, we propose KSM-KP43 as a novel species of alkaliphilic Bacillus. This novel strain produces a new class of protease, an oxidatively stable serine protease that is suitable for use in bleach-based detergents. The enzyme contained 640 amino acid residues, including a possible ~200-amino-acid prepropeptide in the N-terminal and a unique stretch of ~160 amino acids in the C-terminal regions (434-amino-acid mature enzyme with a calculated molecular mass of 45,301 Da). The C-terminal half after the putative catalytic Ser255 and the contiguous C-terminal extension shared local similarity to internal segments of a membrane-associated serine protease of a marine microbial assemblage and the serine protease/ABC transporter precursors of the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum, and to the C-terminal half of a cold-active alkaline serine protease of a psychrotrophic Shewanella strain.
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Saeki, K., Hitomi, J., Okuda, M. et al. A novel species of alkaliphilic Bacillus that produces an oxidatively stable alkaline serine protease. Extremophiles 6, 65–72 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007920100224
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007920100224