Cloning and Characterization of ${\alpha}-Glucosidase$ Gene from Thermophilic Bacillus sp. DG0303

An ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ gene (aglA) from thermophilic Bacillus sp. DG0303 was cloned, sequenced, and expressed in Escherichia coli. The aglA was localized to the 2.1-kb PvuI-XmnI region within the 5.9-kb DNA insert of the gybrid plasmid pAG1. The gene consisted of an open reading frame of 1,686 bp with an unusual GTG initiation codon and TGA termination codon. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence predicted a protein of 562 amino acid residues with a M, of 66,551 dalton. A comparative amino acid sequence analysis revealed that DG0303 ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ is related to bacillary oligo-1, 6-glucosidases. The Bacillus sp. DG0303 ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ showed a high sequence identity (36-59%) to the B. flavocaldarius, B. cereus, and B. thermoglucosidasius oligo-1, 6-glucosidases. The number of prolines in theses four ${\alpha}-glucosidases. was observed to increase with increasing thermostability of these enzymes. The cloned ${\alpha}-glucosidase was purified from E. coli $DH5{\alpha}$ bearing pAG1 and characterized. The recombinant enzyme was identical with the native enzyme in its optimum pH and in its molecular mass, estimated by sodium dodecy1 sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The temperature optimum of the cloned ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ was lower than that of the native enzyme.