Cloning and characterization of iron-superoxide dismutase in Antarctic yeast strain Rhodotorula mucilaginosa AN5

A novel superoxide dismutase gene from Antarctic yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa AN5 was cloned, sequenced, and then expressed in Escherichia coli. The R. mucilaginosa AN5 SOD (RmFeSOD) gene was 639 bp open reading frame in length, which encoded a protein of 212 amino acids with a deduced molecular mass of 23.5 kDa and a pI of 7.89. RmFeSOD was identified as iron SOD type with a natural status of homodimer. The recombinant RmFeSOD showed good pH stability in the pH 1.0-9.0 after 1 h incubation. Meanwhile, it was found to behave relatively high thermostability, and maintained more than 80% activity at 50 °C for 1 h. By addition of 1 mM metal ions, the enzyme activity increased by Zn²⁺ , Cu²⁺ , Mn²⁺ , and Fe³⁺ , and inhibited only by Mg²⁺ . RmFeSOD showed relatively low tolerance to some compounds, such as PMSF, SDS, Tween-80, Triton X-100, DMSO, β-ME, and urea. However, DTT showed no inhibition to enzyme activity. Using copper stress experiment, the RmFeSOD recombinant E. coli exhibited better growth than non-recombinant bacteria, which revealed that RmFeSOD might play an important role in the adaptability of heavy metals.

Cloning, expression and biochemical characterization of recombinant superoxide dismutase from Antarctic psychrophilic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. ANT506

In this study, a superoxide dismutase gene (PsSOD) from Pseudoalteromonas sp. ANT506 was cloned and over expressed in Escherichia coli. The PsSOD has an open reading frame of 582 bp with a putative product of 193 amino acid residue and an estimated molecular size of 21.4 kDa. His-tagged PsSOD was subsequently purified 12.6-fold by Ni-affinity chromatography and the yield of 22.9%. The characterization of the purified rPsSOD exhibited maximum activity at 30 °C and pH 8.0. The enzyme exhibited 13.9% activity at 0 °C and had high-thermo lability at higher than 50 °C. rPsSOD exhibited well capability to 2.5 M NaCl (62.4%). These results indicated that rPsSOD exhibited special catalytic properties.