Constitutive Overexpression of the Endoxylanase Gene in Bacillus subtilis

A strong constitutive $P_{JH}$ promoter from Bacillus was applied to overexpress the endoxylanase gene in B. subtilis. The expression plasmid, pHJKJ4, was designed to contain the $P_{JH}$ promoter and endoxylanase promoter ($P_B$), and introduced into B. subtilis DB104. Through batch fermentation of the trasformant cell on a maltose medium, endoxylanase was produced in a growth-associated manner as the predominant protein. The total activity reached about 600 unit/ml at the end of the cultivation, which corresponded to 698 mg endoxylanase protein/l with a specific activity of 860 unit/mg protein. It was also found that the segregational plasmid instability was less than 30% and most of the endoxylanase activity was detected in the culture medium. This result suggests that the secretory production of endoxylanase can be significantly enhanced with the use of the $P_{JH}$ promoter and high-cell density culture techniques, quantitatively as well as qualitatively.