Cloning of a cellulolytic gene from rumen bacteria using pUC18 vector

The present work describes the cloning of a cellulolytic gene from the rume n bacteria Ruminococcus albus using pUC18 vectors. In pUC18 cloning, 3 whit e recombinant colonies with cellulase activity by congored assay was obtain ed out of 68 colonies screened. Out of 3 colonies, 1 has a 1.4 kb Hind III insert resembling endoglucanase gene. The homology between the cloned produ ct and genomic DNA of R. albus was checked by dot-blot hybridization. Expre ssion of the gene was tested by growing the recombinant cells in media cont aining cellobiose and carboxymethyl cellulose.