MOLECULAR-CLONING AND FUNCTIONAL EXPRESSION OF A TALAROMYCES-EMERSONII DERIVED ALPHA-AMYLASE ENCODING GENETIC DETERMINANT IN A HUMAN CELL-LINE

A cDNA fragment encoding a Talaromyces emersonii acid stable alpha-amy lase has, been cloned into a mammalian cell expression vector system. When human HeLa cells were transformed with this DNA, functional enzym e could be detected in extracellular media and cell lysates derived fr om stable transformants. Expression of the T. emersonii derived cDNA w as verified by northern dot blotting hybridisation analysis of mRNA ex tracted from transformants, using the labelled amylase encoding cDNA d eterminant as a probe. Results obtained suggest that expression of the fungus derived alpha-amylase in the transformed HeLa cells is glucoco rticoid dependent.