Cloning and Nucleotide Sequence of the Genomic Taka-amylase A Gene of Aspergillus oryzae

The Taka-amylase A (TAA) gene was cloned from the genomic library of A. oryzae using synthetic DNA oligomers as probes. The gene was located in a 3.7 Kbp EcoRI fragment. A. oryzae transformants containing a EcoRI fragment showed increased TAA activity, the increase being 2 to 5 fold. The complete nucleotide sequence of the gene was determined and it was found that the gene consisted of 2040 bp, with eight introns. The deduced amino acid sequence was compared with that reported by Toda el al., with the following findings. A presumed signal peptide consisting of twenty-one amino acids was found at the N-terminal. One insertion, one deletion and ten substitutions of amino acids were observed, which may be due to strain variation.