Characterization of an amylase gene from Bdellovibrio Bacteriovorus.

Abstract

A recently cloned gene of Bdellovibrio Bacteriovorus has been identified to be an amylase gene. This was an unexpected finding as Bdellovibrio does not seem to utilize sugars as an energy source. Future work will focus on characterizing the amy I gene, finding out the details of its expression, discovering how the gene is regulated, finding out if Bdellovibrio uses the enzyme to degrade its own polysaccharides or sugars from its host, and to construct a null mutant to find out what role the gene plays in the Bdellovibrio life cycle.Because of the unique nature of Bdellovibrio and the relatively small amount of research that has been done, this research should provide much insight into the bacteria's life cycle