Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is a species of bacteria that is the source of the BamH1 restriction enzyme. It also synthesizes a natural antibiotic protein barnase, a widely studied ribonuclease that forms a famously tight complex with its intracellular inhibitor barstar.

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Discovery and name

B. amyloliquefaciens was discovered in soil 1943 by a Japanese scientist named Fukumoto, who gave the bacterium its name because it produced (faciens) a liquifying (lique) amylase (amylo).

Uses

Alpha amylase from B. amyloliquefaciens is often used in starch hydrolysis. B. amyloliquefaciens is also a source of subtilisin, an enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of proteins in a similar way to trypsin.

Status as a species

Between the 1940s and the 1980s bacteriologists debated as to whether or not B. amyloliquefaciens was a separate species or a subspecies of Bacillus subtilis. The matter was settled in 1987 when a group of scientists including Fergus G. Priest of Heriot-Watt University established it as a separate species.

Full name

The full name of B. amyloliquefaciens is Bacillus amyloliquefaciens sp. nov., nom. rev. The 'sp. nov.' stands for species novum, Latin for 'new species', while 'nom. rev.' is short for nomen revictum, Latin for 'revived name'.

American Type Culture Collection

In the American Type Culture Collection the number for B. amyloliquefaciens is 23350

References

• FUKUMOTO, J. 1943. Studies on the production of bacterial amylase. I. Isolation of bacteria secreting potent amylases and their distribution (in Japanese). J. Agr. Chem. Soc. Japan 19: 487-503.
• PRIEST (F.G.), GOODFELLOW (M.), SHUTE (L.A.) and BERKELEY (R.C.W.): Bacillus amyloliquefaciens sp. nov., nom. rev. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 1987, 37, 69-71.