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  • Title: Starch utilization by Bacteroides ovatus isolated from the human large intestine.
    Author: Degnan BA, Macfarlane S, Quigley ME, Macfarlane GT.
    Journal: Curr Microbiol; 1997 May; 34(5):290-6. PubMed ID: 9099629.
    Abstract:
    Starch supported growth of continuous cultures of Bacteroides ovatus when this carbohydrate provided the sole source of carbon and energy. Inducible amylase and alpha-glucosidase activities were inversely related to dilution rate in starch-limited and starch-excess chemostats over the dilution rate (D) range D = 0.03/h to D =0.20/h, and were partly repressed during growth under conditions of starch-excess. Preparative isoelectric focusing of B. ovatus cytoplasmic extracts indicated the existence of three distinct starch-hydrolyzing enzymes. Incubation of active fractions from the isoelectric focusing cell with maltose and a variety of low-molecular-weight oligosaccharides (maltotriose, maltotetraose, maltopentaose, maltohexaose, maltoheptaose) identified a single amylase activity, an enzyme with combined beta-amylase and glucoamylase/alpha-glucosidase properties, and also a possible pullulanase. The ability of B. ovatus to synthesize several starch-hydrolyzing enzymes with different specificities and activities may confer a significant competitive advantage to this organism in the colonic ecosystem.
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