BACKGROUND Amylases are among the main enzymes used in food and other industries. They hydrolyse starch molecules into polymers composing glucose units. Amylases have potential applications in a number of industrial processes including foods and pharmaceutical industries. Alkaline α-amylase has the potential of hydrolysing starch under alkaline pH and is useful in the starch and textile industr...

-Different amylase enzymes were identified by analysis of digestive fluid and haemolymph in diapausing and nondiapausing strains of silkworm, Bombyx mori. The diapausing strain showed negligible digestive amylase activity at a pH range of 3-11, while the nondiapausing strain registered strikingly higher amylase activity at pH 9.2. Higher levels of undigested starch was found in the faecal matte...

The difference of reclaimed water qualities between in summer and in winter were proved considerable. Reclaimed water derived in spring or summer could be applied irrigating in some arid region, which have been considered a rational renewable resource of water. Yet in winter, reclaimed water would run off into river or stream in vain. The idea of storing it in winter and being ready for the nex...

Very rapid rates of gene conversion were observed between duplicated alpha-amylase-coding sequences in Drosophila melanogaster. This gene conversion process was also seen in the related species Drosophila erecta. Specifically, there is virtual sequence identity between the coding regions of the two genes within each species, while the sequence divergence between species is close to that expecte...