Cloning of the gene for cholesterol oxidase in Bacillus spp., Lactobacillus reuteri and its expression in Escherichia coli.

The cloning of the cholesterol oxidase gene in several Gram-positive bacteria, including Lactobacillus reuteri of intestinal origin, was obtained. Only the transformants of Escherichia coli harbouring the recombinant plasmid pCHOA showed a good intracellular enzyme activity. The heterologous gene was stably maintained in Gram-positive transformants but no enzyme activity was detected.