Cloning, sequencing, and secretion of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subtilisin in Bacillus subtilis

The subtilisin gene from B. amyloliquefaciens has been cloned and expressed under its own promoter on a high copy plasmid, pBS42, in Bacillus subtilis I-168 (Marburg strain). Greater than 95 percent of the expressed protease activity is secreted, and the activity is sensitive to inhibition by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride as expected for subtilisin. Bacillus subtilis transformants carrying the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens subtilisin gene in pBS42 (called pS4) secreted large amounts of a protein not seen in control pBS42 transformants. This protein migrated in SDS gels near the position of authentic subtilisin. The complete nucleotide sequence of the cloned gene has been determined using dideoxy sequencing methods. Ba131 exonuclease digestion studies at the 5' end of the gene have defined a 31 base pair stretch necessary for efficient expression of subtilisin. In addition to this putative promoter region, sequences have been assigned for ribosome binding, translation initiation, a signal peptide, the mature enzyme, and translation and transcription termination. A most interesting feature of the gene is a sequence of unknown function coding for roughly 75 amino acids between the signal sequence and the mature enzyme. It is proposed that this region serve as a pro-peptide as is commonly found in eukaryotic secreted proteases.