PROTEIN SECRETION BY MINICELLS OF BACILLUS-SUBTILIS

The minicell producing strain Bacillus subtilis IA292 was transformed with plasmids encoding the Bacillus enzymes beta-glucanase, alpha-amyl ase and neutral protease. Purified minicells were shown to be free of detectable proteolytic activity. Minicells containing plasmids were fo und to synthesise an three enzymes internally, but evidence of secreti on was only observed in the unique case of neutral protease secretion by minicells prepared from cultures grown in BHI medium.