THE INFLUENCE OF MESSENGER-RNA SECONDARY STRUCTURE ON EXPRESSION OF ENDOGLUCANASE IN BACILLUS-SUBTILIS

A gene for endoglucanase of Bacillus subtilis has been inserted into a Bacillus expression plasmid containing a strong BJ27 promoter and a synthetic ribosome binding site. Secondary structure analysis of mRNA showed the presence of a strong hairpin loop burying the SD sequence and the initiation codon. Alteration of secondary structure at this site by deletion analysis revealed a correlation between endoglucanase expression and accessibility of the ribosome binding site. Elimination of secondary structures increased endoglucanase expression over five-fold to a level at which endoglucanase occupied 60% of total protein which was secreted into culture medium.