Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
| Bacillus amyloliquefaciens | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Bacteria |
| Phylum: | Firmicutes |
| Class: | Bacilli |
| Order: | Bacillales |
| Family: | Bacillaceae |
| Genus: | Bacillus |
| Species: | B. amyloliquefaciens |
| Binomial name | |
| Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Priest et al., 1987 | |
Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is a species of bacterium in the genus Bacillus that is the source of the BamH1 restriction enzyme. It also synthesizes a natural antibiotic protein barnase, a widely studied ribonuclease that forms a famously tight complex with its intracellular inhibitor barstar.
Discovery and name
B. amyloliquefaciens was discovered in soil 1943 by a Japanese scientist named Fukumoto, who gave the bacterium its name because it produced (faciens) a liquifying (lique) amylase (amylo).
Uses
Alpha amylase from B. amyloliquefaciens is often used in starch hydrolysis. B. amyloliquefaciens is also a source of subtilisin, an enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of proteins in a similar way to trypsin.
Status as a species
Between the 1940s and the 1980s, bacteriologists debated as to whether or not B. amyloliquefaciens was a separate species or a subspecies of Bacillus subtilis. The matter was settled in 1987, when a group of scientists, including Fergus G. Priest of Heriot-Watt University, established it as a separate species.
American Type Culture Collection
In the American Type Culture Collection the number for B. amyloliquefaciens is 23350.
References
- J. Fukumoto (1943). "Studies on the production of bacterial amylase. I. Isolation of bacteria secreting potent amylases and their distribution". Journal of the Agricultural Chemical Society of Japan (in Japanese) 19: 487–503.
- F. G. Priest, M. Goodfellow, L. A. Shute & R. C. W. Berkeley (1987). "Bacillus amyloliquefaciens sp. nov., nom. rev.". International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 37 (1): 69–71. doi:10.1099/00207713-37-1-69.