EXPRESSION OF THE EXTRACELLULAR LEVANSUCRASE AND INVERTASE GENES FROMZYMOMONAS-MOBILIS IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI-CELLS

We investigated the expression and localization in Escherichia coli of sucZE2 and sucZE3, encoding Zymomonas mobilis extracellular levansucr ase and invertase, respectively, and lacking a typical N-terminal secr etion signal. Levansucrase acid invertase were expressed efficiently u nder the lac and tac promoters in E. coli cells, and some of the levan sucrase produced was localized in the periplasmic space. The sucZE2 ex pression was not lethal to E. coli in the presence of 5% sucrose, and led to the accumulation of levan from sucrose.