Alpha-amylase overproduction in Streptomyces lividans

The gene aml encoding alpha-amylase in Streptomyces lividans was cloned in the multicopy plasmid pIJ486, generating plasmid pAMI11. Plasmid pAMI11 and pIJ486 were propagated in S. lividans TK21 to obtain S. lividans TK21(pAMI11) and its isogenic strain S. lividans TK21(pIJ486). Transcriptional profiling of the bacterium that overproduces alpha-amylase mainly resulted in the upregulation of genes involved in the biogenesis and function of ribosomes, together with the upregulation of the genes involved in the redox processes, the ABC transporters, the central carbon, aminoacid and purine /pyrimidine metabolism. Moreover, some genes involved in oxidative stress were upregulated. The number of genes downregulated was much lower than the upregulated ones. Therefore, bacteria respond by favouring alpha-amylase overproduction that apparently does not cause damage to the cell. All microarray analyses were performed with RNA samples obtained from three independent cultures grown under identical conditions. The cDNA obtained from each RNA preparation of the alpha-amylase overproducer strain was hybridised with the cDNA obtained from the equivalent RNA preparation of the isogenic strain (S. lividans TK21 [pIJ486]).