• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 1992

Genomic DNA of Bacillus stearothemzophilus, which expressed alkalophilic and thermophilic xylanases, was partially digested with HindIII, cloned into pBR322, and subsequently transferred into the Escherichra coli HB101 cells. Three among 5, 000 transformants screened formed clear zones around their colonies. From the functional clones, three recombinant plasmids (pMG11, pMG12 and pMG13) had been isolated, and they were identified to carry the same 4 kb HindIII fragment originated from B. stearothemzophilus which was responsible for the xylanase activity. pMGl3, however, had the foreign DNA of opposite orientation compared to the other two recombinant plasmids. This recombinant plasmid gave much lower xylanase activity. B. stearothermophilus was observed to produce at least three xylanase activities as evidenced by the PAGE-xylan zymogram. The xylanase from E. coli HB101/pMG12 was judged to correspond to the largest among the three B. stearothermophilus xylanases observed in the zymogrom. The enzyme hydrolyzed xylooligosaccharides larger than xylotriose and degraded xylan to produce xylobiose and xylotriose as major products. The xylanase was considered to have trans-xylosidase activity, too.