Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence of the glycogen branching enzyme gene (glgB) from Bacillus stearothermophilus and expression in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.

The structural gene for the Bacillus stearothermophilus glycogen branching enzyme (glgB) was cloned in Escherichia coli. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed a 1917 nucleotide open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein with an Mr of 74787 showing extensive similarity to other bacterial branching enzymes, but with a shorter N-terminal region. A second ORF of 951 nucleotides encoding a 36971 Da protein started upstream of the glgB gene. The N-terminus of the ORF2 gene product had similarity to the Alcaligenes eutrophus czcD gene, which is involved in cobalt-zinc-cadmium resistance. The B. stearothermophilus glgB gene was preceded by a sequence with extensive similarity to promoters recognized by Bacillus subtilis RNA polymerase containing sigma factor H (E - sigma H). The glgB promoter was utilized in B. subtilis exclusively in the stationary phase, and only transcribed at low levels in B. subtilis spoOH, indicating that sigma factor H was essential for the expression of the glgB gene in B. subtilis. In an expression vector, the B. stearothermophilus glgB gene directed the synthesis of a thermostable branching enzyme in E. coli as well as in B. subtilis, with optimal branching activity at 53 degrees C.