Cloning and expression of gene, and activation of an organic solvent-stable lipase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa LST-03

Functional Heterologous Expression of Mature Lipase LipA from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PSA01 in Escherichia coli SHuffle and BL21 (DE3): Effect of the Expression Host on Thermal Stability and Solvent Tolerance of the Enzyme Produced

This study aimed to express heterologously the lipase LipA from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PSA01 obtained from palm fruit residues. In previous approaches, LipA was expressed in Escherichia coli fused with its signal peptide and without its disulfide bond, displaying low activity. We cloned the mature LipA with its truncated chaperone Lif in a dual plasmid and overexpressed the enzyme in two E. coli strains: the traditional BL21 (DE3) and the SHuffle® strain, engineered to produce stable cytoplasmic disulfide bonds. We evaluated the effect of the disulfide bond on LipA stability using molecular dynamics. We expressed LipA successfully under isopropyl β-d-1-thio-galactopyranoside (IPTG) and slow autoinducing conditions. The SHuffle LipA showed higher residual activity at 45 °C and a greater hyperactivation after incubation with ethanol than the enzyme produced by E. coli BL21 (DE3). Conversely, the latter was slightly more stable in methanol 50% and 60% (t½: 49.5 min and 9 min) than the SHuffle LipA (t½: 31.5 min and 7.4 min). The molecular dynamics simulations showed that removing the disulfide bond caused some regions of LipA to become less flexible and some others to become more flexible, significantly affecting the closing lid and partially exposing the active site at all times.

Pseudomonas sp. BUP6 produces a thermotolerant alkaline lipase with trans-esterification efficiency in producing biodiesel

The present study describes the characteristics of a thermotolerant and alkaline lipase secreted by Pseudomonas sp. BUP6, a novel rumen bacterium isolated from Malabari goat, and its trans-esterification efficiency in producing biodiesel from used cooking oil (UCO). The extracellular lipase was purified to homogeneity (35.8 times purified with 14.8% yield) employing (NH₄)₂SO₄ salt precipitation and Sephadex G-100 chromatography. The apparent molecular weight of this lipase on SDS-PAGE was 35 kDa, the identity of which was further confirmed by MALDI-TOF/MS. The purified lipase was found stable at a pH range of 7-9 with the maximum activity (707 U/ml) at pH 8.2; and was active at the temperature ranging from 35 to 50 °C with the optimum at 45 °C (891 U/ml). Triton X-100 and EDTA had no effect on the activity of lipase; whereas SDS, Tween-80 and β-mercaptoethanol inhibited its activity significantly. Moreover, Ca²⁺ (1.0 mM) enhanced the activity of lipase (1428 U/ml) by 206% vis-à-vis initial activity; while Zn²⁺, Fe²⁺ and Cu²⁺ decreased the activity significantly. Using para-nitrophenyl palmitate as substrate, the K_m (11.6 mM) and V_max [668.9 μmol/(min/mg)] of the purified lipase were also determined. Crude lipase was used for analyzing its trans-esterification efficiency with used cooking oil and methanol which resulted in the worthy yield of fatty acid methyl esters, FAME (45%) at 37 °C, indicating its prospects in biodiesel industry. Thus, the lipase secreted by the rumen bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. BUP6, offers great potentials to be used in various industries including the production of biodiesel by trans-esterification.

Cold-adapted RTX lipase from antarctic Pseudomonas sp. strain AMS8: isolation, molecular modeling and heterologous expression

A new strain of psychrophilic bacteria (designated strain AMS8) from Antarctic soil was screened for extracellular lipolytic activity and further analyzed using molecular approach. Analysis of 16S rDNA showed that strain AMS8 was similar to Pseudomonas sp. A lipase gene named lipAMS8 was successfully isolated from strain AMS8, cloned, sequenced and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Sequence analysis revealed that lipAMS8 consist of 1,431 bp nucleotides that encoded a polypeptide consisting of 476 amino acids. It lacked an N-terminal signal peptide and contained a glycine- and aspartate-rich nonapeptide sequence at the C-terminus, which are known to be the characteristics of repeats-in-toxin bacterial lipases. Furthermore, the substrate binding site of lipAMS8 was identified as S(207), D(255) and H(313), based on homology modeling and multiple sequence alignment. Crude lipase exhibited maximum activity at 20 °C and retained almost 50 % of its activity at 10 °C. The molecular weight of lipAMS8 was estimated to be 50 kDa via sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The optimal expression level was attained using the recombinant plasmid pET32b/BL21(DE3) expressed at 15 °C for 8 h, induced by 0.1 mM isopropyl β-D thiogalactoside (IPTG) at E. coli growth optimal density of 0.5.

Hyper-activation of foldase-dependent lipase with lipase-specific foldase

The LST-03 lipase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa LST-03 requires lipase-specific foldase for activation. Abundant expression of the active lipase was successfully accomplished with individual expression of the lipase and foldase in a heterologous host and subsequent in vitro activation. Although the activity of the native lipase from culture supernatant of P. aeruginosa LST-03 was 110 kI.U./g, that after in vitro activation using individually expressed lipase and foldase was 228 kI.U./g. Furthermore, the activity after in vitro activation with afterwards adding calcium ions was 359 kI.U./g. However, the incubation of the lipase with the foldase in the presence of calcium ions resulted in a small conformational transition and low activation levels of the lipase by the foldase. The lipase showed high affinity for the foldase in the presence of calcium ions. The results indicate that in a cellular environment that contains calcium ions, the lipase would not become a hyperactive form by the foldase.

An organic solvent-tolerant alkaline lipase from cold-adapted Pseudomonas mandelii: cloning, expression, and characterization

A gene encoding a novel organic solvent-tolerant alkaline lipase, lipS (GenBank ID JQ071496), was cloned from cold-adapted Pseudomonas mandelii. Recombinant LipS was expressed in Escherichia coli as a 32-kDa soluble protein and was purified by standard procedures. It maintained more than 80% of its activity under alkaline conditions, pH 8-10.5, with an apparent optimum temperature range of 40-50 °C. It maintained thermal stability from 4 to 50 °C. After 1 h of incubation at 60 °C, approximately 50% of its activity remained. It retained its activity in organic solvents, and activity increased in the presence of ethanol and of DMSO. Our data indicate that LipS is an alkaline lipase with relatively high thermal stability and notable tolerance of organic solvents.

Cloning, sequencing, and characterization of lipase genes from a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-synthesizing Pseudomonas resinovorans

Lipase (lip) and lipase-specific foldase (lif) genes of a biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-synthesizing Pseudomonas resinovorans NRRL B-2649 were cloned using primers based on consensus sequences, followed by polymerase chain reaction-based genome walking. Sequence analyses showed a putative Lip gene product (314 amino acids, a.a.) with its catalytic active site (Ser(111), Asp(258), and His(280)) identified. The foldase lif gene that is located 55 bp downstream of lip codes for a putative Lif (345 a.a.). To verify the biological function of the cloned lip gene for lipase expression in P. resinovorans, we constructed a lip knock-out mutant (lip::Tn5<KAN-2>) by transposon insertion. Complementation of the lip knock-out P. resinovorans mutant with a lipase expression plasmid (pBS29-P2-lip) was performed, and its effect on lipase expression was investigated. The wild-type P. resinovorans and the lip::Tn5<KAN-2>[pBS29-P2-lip] recombinant (but not the lip::Tn5<KAN-2> mutant) showed fluorescence on rhodamine B plates indicative of lipase activity. The wild type exhibited extracellular lipase activity when grown on medium containing triacylglycerol substrates (tallow, olive oil, and tributyrin) as sole carbon sources, but the lip::Tn5<KAN-2> mutant did not show such activity. Lipase activity of various strains was also confirmed by TLC analysis of the composition of acylglycerols and free fatty acid in the extracts of the spent culture medium. We further found that tributyrin was more effective than olive oil in inducing lipase expression in P. resinovorans.

Enhancing functional production of a chaperone-dependent lipase in Escherichia coli using the dual expression cassette plasmid

BACKGROUND

The lipase subfamilies I.1 and I.2 show more than 33% homology in the amino acid sequences and most members share another common property that their genes are clustered with the secondary genes whose protein products are required for folding the lipase into an active conformation and secretion into the culture medium. In previous studies, the lipase (LipA) and its chaperone (LipB) from Ralstonia sp. M1 were overexpressed in E. coli and the lipase was successfully refolded in vitro. The purpose of this study was to enhance the production of the active lipase LipA from Ralstonia sp. M1 in the heterologous host E. coli without in vitro refolding process, using two-plasmid co-expression systems and dual expression cassette plasmid systems.

RESULTS

To produce more active lipase from Ralstonia sp. M1 in E. coli without in vitro refolding process but with the help of overexpression of the chaperone (LipB1 and LipB3 corresponding to 56-aa truncated and 26-aa truncated chaperone LipB), six different expression systems including 2 two-plasmid co-expression systems (E. coli BL21/pELipABa + pELipB1k and BL21/pELipABa + pELipB3k) and 4 dual expression cassette plasmid systems (BL21/pELipAB-LipB1a, BL21/pELipAB-LipB3a, BL21/pELipA-LipB1a, and BL21/pELipA-LipB3a) were constructed. The two-plasmid co-expression systems (E. coli BL21/pELipABa + pELipB1k and BL21/pELipABa + pELipB3k) produced the active lipase at a level of 4 times as high as the single expression cassette plasmid system E. coli BL21/pELipABa did. For the first time, the dual expression cassette plasmid systems BL21/pELipAB-LipB1a and BL21/pELipAB-LipB3a yielded 29- and 19-fold production of the active lipase in comparison with the single expression cassette plasmid system E. coli BL21/pELipABa, respectively. Although the lipase amount was equally expressed in all these expression systems (40% of total cellular protein) and only a small fraction of the overexpressed lipase was folded in vivo into the functional lipase in soluble form whereas the main fraction was still inactive in the form of inclusion bodies. Another controversial finding was that the dual expression cassette plasmid systems E. coli BL21/pELipAB-LipB1a and E. coli/pELipAB-LipB3a secreted the active lipase into the culture medium of 51 and 29 times as high as the single expression cassette plasmid system E. coli pELipABa did, respectively, which has never been reported before. Another interesting finding was that the lipase form LipA6xHis (mature lipase fused with 6× histidine tag) expressed in the dual expression cassette plasmid systems (BL21/pELipA-LipB1a and BL21/pELipA-LipB3a) showed no lipase activity although the expression level of the lipase and two chaperone forms LipB1 and LipB3 in these systems remained as high as that in E. coli BL21/pELipABa + pELipB1k, BL21/pELipABa + pELipB3k, BL21/pELipAB-LipB1a, and BL21/pELipAB-LipB3a. The addition of Neptune oil or detergents into the LB medium increased the lipase production and secretion by up to 94%.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrated that a dual expression cassette plasmid system E. coli could overproduce and secrete the active chaperone-dependent lipase (subfamilies I.1 and I.2) in vivo and an improved dual expression cassette plasmid system E. coli could be potentially applied for industrial-scale production of subfamily I.1 and I.2 lipases.

Co-expression of an organic solvent-tolerant lipase and its cognate foldase of Pseudomonas aeruginosa CS-2 and the application of the immobilized recombinant lipase

The genes of CS-2 lipase and its cognate foldase were cloned from Pseudomonas aeruginosa CS-2. A stop codon was not found in the lipase gene. The amino acid sequence deduced from the lipase gene from P. aeruginosa CS-2 showed 97.8%, 71.3%, and 71.2% identity with lipases from P. aeruginosa LST-03, P seudomonas mendocina ymp, and Pseudomonas stutzeri A1501, respectively. The co-expression of CS-2 lipase and its cognate foldase of P. aeruginosa CS-2 in E scherichia coli BL21 (DE3) resulted in the formation of a soluble lipase. The recombinant lipase and foldase were purified to homogeneity using nickel affinity chromatography and about 10.2-fold with 40.9% recovery was achieved for the purification of the recombinant lipase. The molecular masses of the lipase and the foldase were estimated to be 35.7 and 38.3 kDa in SDS-PAGE, respectively. The recombinant lipase showed stability in the presence of some organic solvents. The recombinant CS-2 lipase was immobilized and subsequently used for the synthesis of butyl acetate in heptane. The conversion of substrate decreased from 98.2% to 87.4% after 5 cycles in reuse of the immobilized lipase.

Enhancement of the organic solvent-stability of the LST-03 lipase by directed evolution

LST-03 lipase from an organic solvent-tolerant Pseudomonas aeruginosa LST-03 has high stability and activity in the presence of various organic solvents. In this research, enhancement of organic solvent-stability of LST-03 lipase was attempted by directed evolution. The structural gene of the LST-03 lipase was amplified by the error prone-PCR method. Organic solvent-stability of the mutated lipases was assayed by formation of a clear zone of agar which contained dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and tri-n-butyrin and which overlaid a plate medium. And the organic solvent-stability was also confirmed by measuring the half-life of activity in the presence of DMSO. Four mutated enzymes were selected on the basis of their high organic solvent-stability in the presence of DMSO. The organic solvent-stabilities of mutated LST-03 lipase in the presence of various organic solvents were measured and their mutated amino acid residues were identified. The half-lives of the LST-03-R65 lipase in the presence of cyclohexane and n-decane were about 9 to 11-fold longer than those of the wild-type lipase, respectively. Some substituted amino acid residues of mutated LST-03 lipases have been located at the surface of the enzyme molecules, while some other amino acid residues have been changed from neutral to basic residues.

Co-expression of the lipase and foldase of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to a functional lipase in Escherichia coli

The lipA gene, a structural gene encoding for protein of molecular mass 48 kDa, and lipB gene, encoding for a lipase-specific chaperone with molecular mass of 35 kDa, of Pseudomonas aeruginosa B2264 were co-expressed in heterologous host Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) to obtain in vivo expression of functional lipase. The recombinant lipase was expressed with histidine tag at its N terminus and was purified to homogeneity using nickel affinity chromatography. The amino acid sequence of LipA and LipB of P. aeruginosa B2264 was 99-100% identical with the corresponding sequence of LipA and LipB of P. aeruginosa LST-03 and P. aeruginosa PA01, but it has less identity with Pseudomonas cepacia (Burkholderia cepacia) as it showed only 37.6% and 23.3% identity with the B. cepacia LipA and LipB sequence, respectively. The molecular mass of the recombinant lipase was found to be 48 kDa. The recombinant lipase exhibited optimal activity at pH 8.0 and 37 degrees C, though it was active between pH 5.0 and pH 9.0 and up to 45 degrees C. K (m) and V (max) values for recombinant P. aeruginosa lipase were found to be 151.5 +/- 29 microM and 217 +/- 22.5 micromol min(-1) mg(-1) protein, respectively.