A novel mesophilic bacterial amylase,named oligosaccharide-producing multifunctional amylase(OPMA),was discovered and characterized.OPMA is an extracellular enzyme secreted by ZW2531-1,a strain newly isolated from Chinese soil.It could be purified to homogeneity from the culture supematant of ZW2531-1 by 30%-60% saturated ammonium sulfate precipitation,followed by twice Sephadex gel filtration chromatography.OPMA is a 66 kDa protein based on SDS-PAGE and has an isoelectric point(p/) at pH=5.3 by Isoelectric focusing electrophoresis(IFE),it only catalyzes the degradation of starch,rather than other alpha-1,4-and/or 1,6-glucan polysaccharides such as β-cyclomaltodextrin and pullulan.OPMA degraded starch to produce several oligosccharides including maltose,maltotriose,and isomaltotriose as the major end-products,and perhaps other oligosaccharides such as isomaltotetraose,rather than glucose.OPMA exhibited optimal catalytic activity at a reaction temperature of 50 ℃ and pH=6.0,as determined by orthogonal test.Under the optimal reaction conditions,purified OPMA had a specific activity of 13.75 U/mg.These findings suggest that OPMA could be used for the production of some oligosaccharides beneficial to the food industry and medicine.