β-Galactosidase Gene of Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 Isolated from Hot Springs of a Volcanic Area in New Zealand: Identification of the Bacteria, Cloning and Expression of the Gene in Escherichia coli

To isolate the $\beta$-galactosidase producing thermophilic bacteria, samples of mud and water were collected from hot springs of avolcanic area near Golden Springs in New Zealand. Among eleven isolated strains, the strain of KNOUC112 produced the highest amounts of $\beta$-galactosidase at 40 h incubation time (0.013 unit). This strain was aerobic, asporogenic bacilli, immobile, gram negative, catalase positive, oxidase positive, and pigment producing. Optimum growth was at 70-72$^{\circ}C$, pH 7.0-7.2, and it could grow in the presence of 3% NaCl. The main fatty acids of cell components were iso-15:0 (30.26%), and iso-17:0 (31.31%). Based on morphological and biochemical properties and fatty acid composition, the strain could be identified as genus Thermus, and finally as Thermus thermophilus by phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA sequence. So the strain is designated as Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112. A gene from Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 encoding $\beta$-galactosidase was amplified by PCR using redundancy primers prepared based on the structure of $\beta$-galactosidase gene of Thermus sp. A4 and Thermus sp. strain T2, cloned and expressed in E. coli JM109 DE3. The gene of Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 $\beta$-galactosidase(KNOUC112$\beta$-gal) consisted of a 1,938 bp open reading frame, encoding a protein of 73 kDa that was composed of 645 amino acids. KNOUC112$\beta$-gal was expressed as dimer and trimer in E. coli JM109 (DE3) via pET-5b.