Extracellular enzyme synthesis in the genus Bacillus.

Abstract

As the decade progresses this prediction is rapidly being realized, and microbial enzymes are becoming increasingly important in such diverse fields as medicine, brewing, and timber preservation. The genus Bacillus has played a major role in this development as evidenced by the distribution of the papers read at the Fifth International Fermentation Symposium, 1976 (64). Of 23 papers in the session devoted to "Microbial Enzymes of Industrial Interest" no less than ten were concerned with enzymes from bacilli. Reasons for the predominance of these bacteria in this area of study are several. First, they comprise a group of chemoorganotrophs that can be easily maintained and cultivated and yet are markedly heterogeneous in character. Psychrophiles, mesophiles, and thermophiles, in addition to alkalophilic, neutrophilic, and acidophilic species are well represented. Furthermore, virtually all 48 species of the genus listed in Bergey's Manual ofDeterminative Bacteriology (92) secrete a variety of soluble extracellular enzymes, which reflects the diversity of the parental habitats. Amylases that can liquefy starch under pressure at 11000 (194) and proteases that are stable and active at pH 12.0 (6) are extreme examples of enzyme adaption. This article will attempt to review the recent literature concerned with the characterization and properties of the exoenzymes synthesized by the bacilli and the control and mechanisms of their synthesis. It is restricted to this genus because the commercial importance of extracellular enzymes and academic interest in the process of sporulation have prompted a considerable amount of research into this general area. Nevertheless, in the final section I have attempted to equate our present knowledge of exoenzyme synthesis in procaryotes other than