Expression of the lignin peroxidase H2 gene from Phanerochaete chrysosporium in Escherichia coli

Scalable High-Performance Production of Recombinant Horseradish Peroxidase from E. coli Inclusion Bodies

Horseradish peroxidase (HRP), an enzyme omnipresent in biotechnology, is still produced from hairy root cultures, although this procedure is time-consuming and only gives low yields. In addition, the plant-derived enzyme preparation consists of a variable mixture of isoenzymes with high batch-to-batch variation preventing its use in therapeutic applications. In this study, we present a novel and scalable recombinant HRP production process in Escherichia coli that yields a highly pure, active and homogeneous single isoenzyme. We successfully developed a multi-step inclusion body process giving a final yield of 960 mg active HRP/L culture medium with a purity of ≥99% determined by size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (SEC-HPLC). The Reinheitszahl, as well as the activity with 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) and 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) as reducing substrates, are comparable to commercially available plant HRP. Thus, our preparation of recombinant, unglycosylated HRP from E. coli is a viable alternative to the enzyme from plant and highly interesting for therapeutic applications.

Synergistic codon optimization and bioreactor cultivation toward enhanced secretion of fungal lignin peroxidase in Pichia pastoris: Enzymatic valorization of technical (industrial) lignins

Lignin peroxidase (LiP) is a well-recognized enzyme for its ability to oxidize lignins, but its commercial availability is limited, which hinders the biotechnological application of LiP-based bioprocesses in lignocellulose biorefineries. This study evaluated a combination strategy to improve the expression of LiP to promote its practical use. The strategy included optimization of the lipH8 gene of Phanerochaete chrysosporium according to the codon usage of Pichia pastoris, followed by fed-batch fermentation using a 14 L bioreactor (10 L working volume). The combination strategy achieved a maximum volumetric LiPH8 activity of 4480 U L^-1, protein concentration of 417 mg L^-1 and a specific activity of 10.7 U mg^-1, which was higher than previous reports. Biochemical characterization showed that the recombinant LiPH8 (rLiPH8) was optimum at pH 3.0, 25 ℃ and 0.4 mM H₂O₂. Using the optimized conditions, rLiPH8 was used to treat isolated technical lignins namely soda-anthraquinone (SAQ) lignin and steam explosion (S-E) lignin. High-performance gel permeation chromatography (HP-GPC) analysis showed that the molecular weight (Mw) of SAQ and S-E lignins were increased by 1.43-and 1.14-fold, respectively, after the enzymatic treatment. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) also showed that the thermal stability of the lignins was improved, indicating that the enzyme treatment of lignins with rLiPH8 resulted in lignin re-polymerization. As the first report on rLiPH8 production using P. pastoris, this study has shed light on the possible route for the enhancement of rLiPH8 production and its potential application for upgrading technical lignins.

Progress and obstacles in the production and application of recombinant lignin-degrading peroxidases

Lignin is 1 of the 3 major components of lignocellulose. Its polymeric structure includes aromatic subunits that can be converted into high-value-added products, but this potential cannot yet been fully exploited because lignin is highly recalcitrant to degradation. Different approaches for the depolymerization of lignin have been tested, including pyrolysis, chemical oxidation, and hydrolysis under supercritical conditions. An additional strategy is the use of lignin-degrading enzymes, which imitates the natural degradation process. A versatile set of enzymes for lignin degradation has been identified, and research has focused on the production of recombinant enzymes in sufficient amounts to characterize their structure and reaction mechanisms. Enzymes have been analyzed individually and in combinations using artificial substrates, lignin model compounds, lignin and lignocellulose. Here we consider progress in the production of recombinant lignin-degrading peroxidases, the advantages and disadvantages of different expression hosts, and obstacles that must be overcome before such enzymes can be characterized and used for the industrial processing of lignin.

Production strategies for active heme-containing peroxidases from E. coli inclusion bodies - a review

Heme-containing peroxidases are frequently used in medical applications. However, these enzymes are still extracted from their native source, which leads to inadequate yields and a mixture of isoenzymes differing in glycosylation which limits subsequent enzyme applications. Thus, recombinant production of these enzymes in Escherichia coli is a reasonable alternative. Even though production yields are high, the product is frequently found as protein aggregates called inclusion bodies (IBs). These IBs have to be solubilized and laboriously refolded to obtain active enzyme. Unfortunately, refolding yields are still very low making the recombinant production of these enzymes in E. coli not competitive. Motivated by the high importance of that enzyme class, this review aims at providing a comprehensive summary of state-of-the-art strategies to obtain active peroxidases from IBs. Additionally, various refolding techniques, which have not yet been used for this enzyme class, are discussed to show alternative and potentially more efficient ways to obtain active peroxidases from E. coli.

Ancestral amino acid substitution improves the thermal stability of recombinant lignin-peroxidase from white-rot fungi, Phanerochaete chrysosporium strain UAMH 3641

Stabilizing enzymes from mesophiles of industrial interest is one of the greatest challenges of protein engineering. The ancestral mutation method, which introduces inferred ancestral residues into a target enzyme, has previously been developed and used to improve the thermostability of thermophilic enzymes. In this report, we studied the ancestral mutation method to improve the chemical and thermal stabilities of Phanerochaete chrysosporium lignin peroxidase (LiP), a mesophilic fungal enzyme. A fungal ancestral LiP sequence was inferred using a phylogenetic tree comprising Basidiomycota and Ascomycota fungal peroxidase sequences. Eleven mutant enzymes containing ancestral residues were designed, heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Several of these ancestral mutants showed higher thermal stabilities and increased specific activities and/or kcat/KM than those of wild-type LiP.

Expression of lignin peroxidase H2 from Phanerochaete chrysosporium by multi-copy recombinant Pichia strain

The lipH2 gene, encoding the expression of lignin peroxidase, was cloned from Phanerochaete chrysosporium BKM-F-1767 and expressed in Pichia pastoris X-33, a yeast. The cDNA of LiPH2 was generated from total RNA extracted from P. chrysosporium by PCR with primers that do not contain a P. chrysosporium lignin peroxidase secretion signal. The gene was then successfully inserted into the expression vector pPICZalpha, and resulted in the recombinant vector pPICZalpha-lipH2. The transformation was conducted in two ways. One was using the wild Pichia pastoris as the recipients, which results in the recombinant P. pastoris with single or low lipH2 gene copy. The second was using P. pastoris and single or low lipH2 gene copy as the recipients, which results in the recombinant P. pastoris with multi-copies of lipH2 genes. This study firstly expressed the gene lipH2 in P. pastoris and achieved the successful expression of the lipH2 depending upon the generation of a recombinant strain that contained multiple copies. The lignin peroxidase activity reached a maximum of 15 U/L after 12 h induction.

Expression of soluble versatile peroxidase of Bjerkandera adusta in Escherichia coli

Versatile peroxidase from white rot fungus Bjerkandera adusta was over-expressed in a soluble form in Escherichia coli. In the constructed enzyme model based on the selected gene from B. adusta, the active sites for oxidation of Mn(2+) ions and for oxidation of aromatic substrates were identified, both characteristic for versatile peroxidase. For over-expression of the recombinant enzyme different host strains, media formulations, growth temperatures, and fusion partners were tested. With the bacterial strain BL21(DE3)pLysS cultivated at 25 degrees C in auto-induction medium and presence of heme, a soluble peroxidase with incorporated heme and activity against different substrates was obtained. By exploiting an appropriate expression system and providing suitable culture conditions, the recombinant fungal peroxidases in soluble form can be produced in bacteria.

The white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium: conditions for the production of lignin-degrading enzymes

Investigating optimal conditions for lignin-degrading peroxidases production by Phanerochaete chrysosporium (P. chrysosporium) has been a topic for numerous researches. The capability of P. chrysosporium for producing lignin peroxidases (LiPs) and manganese peroxidases (MnPs) makes it a model organism of lignin-degrading enzymes production. Focusing on compiling and identifying the factors that affect LiP and MnP production by P. chrysosporium, this critical review summarized the main findings of about 200 related research articles. The major difficulty in using this organism for enzyme production is the instability of its productivity. This is largely due to the poor understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of P. chrysosporium responding to different nutrient sources in the culture medium, such as metal elements, detergents, lignin materials, etc. In addition to presenting the major conclusions and gaps of the current knowledge on lignin-degrading peroxidases production by P. chrysosporium, this review has also suggested further work, such as correlating the overexpression of the intra and extracellular proteins to the nutrients and other culture conditions to discover the regulatory cascade in the lignin-degrading peroxidases production process, which may contribute to the creation of improved P. chrysosporium strains leading to stable enzyme production.

Expression in yeast of secreted lignin peroxidase with improved 2,4-dichlorophenol degradability by DNA shuffling

Lignin peroxidase (LiP) from Phanerochaete chrysosporium was shown to mineralize a variety of recalcitrant aromatic compounds and oxidize a number of polycyclic aromatic and phenolic compounds. The major problem of the wild type LiP is that it can be inactivated by excess H(2)O(2) and high concentrations of aromatic compounds. We applied a directed evolution technique coupled with a rapid colorimetric screening method to obtain mutant genes with improved H(2)O(2) stability and polychlorinated phenol degradability, and they were successfully expressed as the secretive LiPs in recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The resulting variants showed approximately 1.6-fold improved 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) degradation activity and stability against H(2)O(2) compared with the parent strain. The kinetic properties of the variants toward 2,4-DCP and H(2)O(2) were also increased compared with the wild type for all three mutants studied. Amino acid sequence analysis indicated that the greatest number of amino acid substitutions was located near the surface or Ca(2+) binding sites of the enzyme.

Functionality improvement of fungal lignin peroxidase by DNA shuffling for 2,4-dichlorophenol degradability and H2O2 stability

One of the major problems of wild-type lignin peroxidase (LiP) is its inactivity at the presence of excess H(2)O(2) and high concentration of aromatic compounds. Little is known about the substrate-binding site of LiP, and functionality improvement of LiP was not actively tried by genetic engineering and directed evolution. In order to improve LiPs functionality, we performed directed evolution with a colorimetric screening method. Finally, three types of LiP mutants were screened. The catalytic efficiency of the variants toward 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP) degradation activity and the stability against H(2)O(2) was increased over the wild type. The K(m) value of the variants toward H(2)O(2) was increased, but K(m) value toward 2,4-DCP degradation was reduced. Overall, The K(cat)/K(m) values of the mutants toward 2,4-DCP was increased ca. 4-fold, and that toward H(2)O(2) was increased ca. 89-fold. Amino acid sequence analysis indicated that the most of the mutations were located on the enzyme surface. We expect that these results coupled with recombining mutation can be successfully applied to the molecular evolution cycles for screening of LiPs and other oxidative enzymes with improved functionality and stability.

Exclusive overproduction of recombinant versatile peroxidase MnP2 by genetically modified white rot fungus, Pleurotus ostreatus

By combining a homologous recombinant gene expression system and optimization of the culture conditions, hyper overproduction of Pleurtous ostreatus MnP2 was achieved. Genetically modified P. ostreatus strains with the recombinant mnp2 sequence under the control of sdi1 expression signals, were subjected to agitated culture using media supplemented with wheat bran or its hot-water extract. The best result, whereby 7300 U/l of MnP was produced by a recombinant strain TM2-18, indicated that more than 30-fold overproduction of the recombinant MnP2 compared to the previous result was achieved. On the other hand, no MnP activity was detected for the wild-type strain under the same conditions. Accumulation of the recombinant, but not endogenous, mnp2 transcripts was demonstrated in reverse-transcription PCR experiments. These results indicated that the recombinant MnP2 was exclusively expressed by the recombinant strain. Purified recombinant MnP2 showed almost identical properties to native MnP2 in electrophoresis, spectroscopic and kinetic analyses, including determination of K(m) and V(max) values for Mn(II), H(2)O(2) and veratryl alcohol. Moreover, the recombinant MnP2 directly oxidized a high-molecularweight substrate RNase A in the absence of redox mediators, as does native MnP2. The homologous overproduction system will provide a plat form for exclusive production of mutant or variant peroxidases with a desired property in basidiomycete.

Mn2+ is dispensable for the production of active MnP2 by Pleurotus ostreatus

The regulation mechanism for expression of versatile peroxidase MnP2 by the basidiomycete fungus Pleurotus ostreatus was examined using chemically defined synthetic media. Expression of MnP2 was down-regulated at the transcription level by nutrient nitrogen, e.g., NH(4)(+), arginine or urea. As is often the case with other fungal manganese peroxidases, active MnP2 was not detected when Mn(2+) was omitted from the culture, while mnp2 transcription was barely affected by Mn(2+). However, Mn(2+) can be substituted by an MnP2 substrate, Poly R-478, since active MnP2 was detected extracellularly when the compound was added to the culture without Mn(2+). Enzyme stability assays with the purified MnP2 indicated an indispensable requirement for a substrate that can be used to complete the catalytic cycle, and avoid inactivation resulting from an excess H(2)O(2). This report is the first of the Mn(2+)-independent production of an active versatile peroxidase by P. ostreatus.

Properties of catalase-peroxidase lacking its C-terminal domain

Catalase-peroxidases have a two-domain structure. The N-terminal domain contains the bifunctional active site, but the function of the C-terminal domain is unknown. We produced catalase-peroxidase containing only its N-terminal domain (KatG(Nterm)). Removal of the C-terminal domain did not result in unexpected changes in secondary structure as evaluated by CD, but KatG(Nterm) had neither catalase nor peroxidase activity. Partial recovery of both activities was achieved by incubating KatG(Nterm) with the separately expressed and isolated KatG C-terminal domain. Spectroscopic measurements revealed a shift in heme environment from a mixture of high-spin species (wtKatG) to exclusively hexacoordinate, low-spin (KatG(Nterm)). Moreover, a > 1000-fold lower kon for CN- binding was observed for KatG(Nterm). EPR spectra for KatG(Nterm) and the results of site-specific substitution of active site histidines suggested that the distal histidine was the sixth ligand. Thus, one important role for the C-terminal domain may be to support the architecture of the active site, preventing heme ligation by this catalytically essential residue.

Effect of pH on the stability of Pleurotus eryngii versatile peroxidase during heterologous production in Emericella nidulans

Complementary DNA (cDNA) encoding the new versatile peroxidase from the ligninolytic basidiomycete Pleurotus eryngii has been expressed in the ascomycete Emericella nidulans. In recombinant E. nidulans cultures, the pH reached values as high as 8.3, correlating with a sharp decrease in peroxidase activity. Peroxidase was rapidly inactivated at alkaline pH, but was comparatively stable at acidic pH. The peroxidase inactivation in alkaline buffer could be reversed by adding Ca(2+) and lowering the pH. However, reactivation did not result after incubating the enzyme in non-buffered E. nidulans cultures that reached pH 7.5. To optimize recombinant peroxidase production, the effect of controlling the pH in E. nidulans bioreactor cultures was studied. An extended growth period, and a significant increase in the recombinant peroxidase level (5.3-fold higher activity than in the bioreactor without pH control) was obtained when the pH was maintained at 6.8, showing that culture pH is an important parameter for recombinant peroxidase production.

System for the expression of recombinant hemoproteins in Escherichia coli

Expression of recombinant hemoproteins in Escherichia coli is often limited because a vast majority of the protein produced lacks the heme necessary for function. This is compounded by the fact that standard laboratory strains of E. coli have a limited capacity to withdraw heme from the extracellular environment. We are developing a new tool designed to increase the heme content of our proteins of interest by simply supplementing the expression medium with low concentrations of hemin. This hemoprotein expression (HPEX) system is based on plasmids (pHPEX1-pHPEX3) that encode an outermembrane-bound heme receptor (ChuA) from E. coli O157:H7. This heme receptor, and others like it, confers on the host the ability to more effectively internalize exogenous heme. Transformation of a standard laboratory E. coli protein expression strain (BL-21 [DE3]) with the pHPEX plasmid led to the expression of a new protein with the appropriate molecular weight for ChuA. The receptor was functional as demonstrated by the ability of the transformant to grow on iron-deficient media supplemented with hemin, an ability that the unmodified expression strain lacked. Expression of our proteins of interest, catalase-peroxidases, using this system led to a dramatic and parallel increase in heme content and activity. On a per-heme basis, the spectral and kinetic properties of HPEX-derived catalase-peroxidase were the same as those observed for catalase-peroxidases expressed in standard E. coli-based systems. We suggest that the pHPEX plasmids may be a useful addition to other E. coli expression systems and may help address a broad range of problems in hemoprotein structure and function.

MnII is not a productive substrate for wild-type or recombinant lignin peroxidase isozyme H2

The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd) gene promoter was used to drive the homologous expression of the lignin peroxidase (LiP) isozyme H2 gene in primary metabolic cultures of Phanerochaete chrysosporium. The molecular mass, pI, and optical absorption spectra of purified recombinant LiPH2 (rLiPH2) were essentially identical to those of wild-type LiPH2 (wtLiPH2). wtLiPH2 was prepared by growing cells in the absence of MnII, conditions under which P. chrysosporium manganese peroxidase (MnP) is not expressed, ensuring that wtLiPH2 was not contaminated with MnP. The kinetics of veratryl alcohol (VA) oxidation were essentially identical for rLiPH2 and wtLiPH2. The rLiPH2, wtLiPH2, and wild-type LiP isozyme H8 (wt-LiPH8) enzymes were used to reexamine previous claims that LiPH2 can oxidize Mn" at a rate sufficient to promote catalytic turnover of the enzyme. Our results demonstrate that rLiPH2, wtLiPH2, and LiPH8 do not turn over under steady-state conditions, when MnII is the sole reducing substrate. Furthermore, transient-state kinetic analyses show that the reduction rate of the catalytic intermediate, LiP compound I, by VA was at least 2 x 10(3)-fold higher than the rate of reduction in the presence of MnII. No reduction of LiP compound II was observed in the presence of MnII. In contrast to previous claims, these data strongly suggest that MnII is not a productive substrate for LiPH2 or LiPH8.

Efficient heterologous expression in Aspergillus oryzae of a unique dye-decolorizing peroxidase, DyP, of Geotrichum candidum Dec 1

Efficient expression of the dye-decolorizing peroxidase, DyP, from Geotrichum candidum Dec 1 in Aspergillus oryzae M-2-3 was achieved by fusing mature cDNA encoding dyp with the A. oryzae alpha-amylase promoter (amyB). The activity yield of the purified recombinant DyP (rDyP) was 42-fold compared with that of the purified native DyP from Dec 1. No exogenous heme was necessary for the expression of rDyP in A. oryzae. From the N-terminal amino acid sequence analyses of native DyP and rDyP, the absence of a histidine residue in both DyPs, which was considered to be important for heme binding of DyP, was confirmed. These results suggest that rDyP without a typical heme-binding region produced by A. oryzae exhibits a function similar to that of native DyP.

Relative stability of recombinant versus native peroxidases from Phanerochaete chrysosporium

Two types of glycosylated peroxidases are secreted by the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, lignin peroxidase (LiP) and manganese peroxidase (MnP). The thermal stabilities of recombinant LiPH2, LiPH8, and MnPH4, which were expressed without glycosylation in Escherichia coli, were lower than those of corresponding native peroxidases isolated from P. chrysosporium. Recovery of thermally inactivated recombinant enzyme activities was higher than with that of the thermally inactivated native peroxidases. Removal of N-linked glycans from native LiPH8 and MnPH4 did not affect enzyme activities or thermal stabilities of the enzymes. Although LiPH2, LiPH8, and MnPH4 contained O-linked glycans, only the O-linked glycans from MnPH4 could be removed by O-glycosidase, and the glycan-depleted MnPH4 exhibited essentially the same activity as nondeglycosylated MnPH4, but thermal stability decreased. Periodate-treated MnPH4 exhibited even lower thermal stability than O-glycosidase treated MnPH4. The role of O-linked glycans in protein stability was also evidenced with LiPH2 and LiPH8. Based on these data, we propose that neither N- nor O-linked glycans are likely to have a direct role in enzyme activity of native LiPH2, LiPH8, and MnPH4 and that only O-linked glycans may play a crucial role in protein stability of native peroxidases.

Homologous expression of recombinant lignin peroxidase in Phanerochaete chrysosporium

The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd) promoter was used to drive expression of lip2, the gene encoding lignin peroxidase (LiP) isozyme H8, in primary metabolic cultures of Phanerochaete chrysosporium. The expression vector, pUGL, also contained the Schizophyllum commune ura1 gene as a selectable marker. pUGL was used to transform a P. chrysosporium Ura11 auxotroph to prototrophy. Ura+ transformants were screened for peroxidase activity in liquid cultures containing high-carbon and high-nitrogen medium. Recombinant LiP (rLiP) was secreted in active form by the transformants after 4 days of growth, whereas endogenous lip genes were not expressed under these conditions. Approximately 2 mg of homogeneous rLiP/liter was obtained after purification. The molecular mass, pI, and optical absorption spectrum of rLiPH8 were essentially identical to those of the wild-type LiPh8 (wt LiPH8), indicating that heme insertion, folding, and secretion functioned normally in the transformant. Steady-state and transient-state kinetic properties for the oxidation of veratryl alcohol between wtLiPH8 and rLiPH8 were also identical.

Addition of veratryl alcohol oxidase activity to manganese peroxidase by site-directed mutagenesis

Manganese peroxidase and lignin peroxidase are ligninolytic heme-containing enzymes secreted by the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Despite structural similarity, these peroxidases oxidize different substrates. Veratryl alcohol is a typical substrate for lignin peroxidase, while manganese peroxidase oxidizes chelated Mn2+. By a single mutation, S168W, we have added veratryl alcohol oxidase activity to recombinant manganese peroxidase expressed in Escherichia coli. The kcat for veratryl alcohol oxidation was 11 s-1, Km for veratryl alcohol approximately 0.49 mM, and Km for hydrogen peroxide approximately 25 microM at pH 2.3. The Km for veratryl alcohol was higher and Km for hydrogen peroxide was lower for this manganese peroxidase mutant compared to two recombinant lignin peroxidase isoenzymes. The mutant retained full manganese peroxidase activity and the kcat was approximately 2.6 x 10(2) s-1 at pH 4.3. Consistent with relative activities with respect to these substrates, Mn2+ strongly inhibited veratryl alcohol oxidation. The single productive mutation in manganese peroxidase suggested that this surface tryptophan residue (W171) in lignin peroxidase is involved in catalysis.

A search for ligninolytic peroxidases in the fungus pleurotus eryngii involving alpha-keto-gamma-thiomethylbutyric acid and lignin model dimers

Because there is some controversy concerning the ligninolytic enzymes produced by Pleurotus species, ethylene release from alpha-keto-gamma-thiomethylbutyric acid (KTBA), as described previously for Phanerochaete chrysosporium lignin peroxidase (LiP), was used to assess the oxidative power of Pleurotus eryngii cultures and extracellular proteins. Lignin model dimers were used to confirm the ligninolytic capabilities of enzymes isolated from liquid and solid-state fermentation (SSF) cultures. Three proteins that oxidized KTBA in the presence of veratryl alcohol and H2O2 were identified (two proteins were found in liquid cultures, and one protein was found in SSF cultures). These proteins are versatile peroxidases that act on Mn2+, as well as on simple phenols and veratryl alcohol. The two peroxidases obtained from the liquid culture were able to degrade a nonphenolic beta-O-4 dimer, yielding veratraldehyde, as well as a phenolic dimer which is not efficiently oxidized by P. chrysosporium peroxidases. The former reaction is characteristic of LiP. The third KTBA-oxidizing peroxidase oxidized only the phenolic dimer (in the presence of Mn2+). Finally, a fourth Mn2+-oxidizing peroxidase was identified in the SSF cultures on the basis of its ability to oxidize KTBA in the presence of Mn2+. This enzyme is related to the Mn-dependent peroxidase of P. chrysosporium because it did not exhibit activity with veratryl alcohol and Mn-independent activity with dimers. These results show that P. eryngii produces three types of peroxidases that have the ability to oxidize lignin but lacks a typical LiP. Similar enzymes (in terms of N-terminal sequence and catalytic properties) are produced by other Pleurotus species. Some structural aspects of P. eryngii peroxidases related to the catalytic properties are discussed.