BACILLUS-SUBTILIS MUTANT DEFICIENT IN THE MAJOR AUTOLYTIC AMIDASE AND GLUCOSAMINIDASE IS IMPAIRED IN MOTILITY

The purified autolytic endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase of Bacillus subtilis AC327 was cleaved with cyanogen bromide, and the N-terminal amino acid sequence of one of the peptide fragments was determined. Then. a DNA fragment containing a part of the glucosaminidase gene was cloned into Escherichia coli JM109 using synthetic oligonucleotides as probes whose sequences had been deduced from the N-terminal amino acid sequence. Zymographic analysis showed that the resultant glucosaminidase-deficient strain lacked a 35-kDa lytic band in addition to a 90-kDa lytic one corresponding to the glucosaminidase. A double mutant strain deficient in the major two autolysins (amidase and glucosaminidase) exhibited greatly impaired motility on a swarm plate whereas the single mutant strains were motile.