Characterization of the L. manihotivorans α-Amylase Gene

Primers and probes were established from the sequences of the α-amylase genes (amyA) of L. amylovorus CIP 102989 and of L. plantarum A6 (Giraud and Cuny 1997). They were successfully used for the detection of the amy A gene in L. manihotivorans strain LMG 18010T and a 2842 bp region, containing the entire gene (2706 bp) with its putative promoter has been sequenced. More than 98% nucleotide sequence identities was found with L. amylovorus and L. plantarum amyA genes. The deduced amino acid sequence shares more than 96% amino acid sequence identities with L. amylovorus and L. plantarum ct-amy-lases, and also 65% and 59% identities with the cc-amy-lases of B. subtilis and S. bovis, respectively. The 3′ terminal part of L. manihotivorans LMG 18010TamyA gene contained four repeated sequences (SRU). The amyA genes of the three lactobacilli species differed mainly in the number of SRU and in the size of the flanking regions of the SRU.