PLASMID ANALYSIS IN POLYGLUTAMATE-PRODUCING BACILLUS STRAIN ISOLATED FROM NON-SALTY FERMENTED SOYBEAN FOOD, KINEMA, IN NEPAL

A gamma-polyglutamate (gamma-PGA)-producing Bacillus strain was isolated from ''kinema'' in Nepal and found to harbor a plasmid species. The hybridized region on the kinema plasmid, pNKH, with the gamma-PGA production-stimulating factor (PSF) gene (psf) on ''natto'' plasmid pUH1, which is responsible for gamma-PGA production in Bacillus subtilis (natto), was identified, and the nucleotide sequence was determined. Only one possible open reading frame (ORF) was found which was 1,281 bp in length. The ORF could potentially encode a polypeptide consisting of 427 amino acids with a molecular weight of 50,251. The polypeptide was found to be 7 residues longer than that of pUH1 PSF. The percent match of the amino acid sequence between pNKH ORF and pUH1 PSF was 92%. These results suggest that the plasmid pNKH of kinema Bacillus might be responsible for gamma-PGA production in kinema fermentation.