Amylases

There are three types of amylases: alpha, beta, and gamma. All can be present in bacteria, although they each have preferred environments. Alpha amylase is a major digestive enzyme in animals and works optimally at a pH of 6.7-7.0. Beta amylase is present in fruit and microbes. Gamma amylase is best in environments with a pH of around 3.0.

In H. utahensis, I found both alpha and gamma amylases. Alpha amylase is from bps 1748453-1750477. A BLAST of this DNA segment with proteins in NCBI's database matches it to an alpha amylase from Haloquadratum walsbyi with an e-value of 7x10^-172. Gamma amylase is from bps 1751071-1755111. A BLAST of this DNA segment with NCBI's protein database matches it to a glucoamylase (another name for gamma amylase) from Haloarcula marismortui with an e-value of 0.0.