Hybrid alpha-amylases produced by transformants of Bacillus subtilis. I. Purification and characterization of extracellular alpha-amylases produced by the parental strains and transformants

Cloning, Purification and Characterization of a Highly Thermostable Amylase Gene of Thermotoga petrophila into Escherichia coli

A putative α-amylase gene of Thermotoga petrophila was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) using pET-21a (+), as an expression vector. The growth conditions were optimized for maximal expression of the α-amylase using various parameters, such as pH, temperature, time of induction and addition of an inducer. The optimum temperature and pH for the maximum expression of α-amylase were 22 °C and 7.0 pH units, respectively. Purification of the recombinant enzyme was carried out by heat treatment method, followed by ion exchange chromatography with 34.6-fold purification having specific activity of 126.31 U mg(-1) and a recovery of 56.25%. Molecular weight of the purified α-amylase, 70 kDa, was determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The enzyme was stable at 100 °C temperature and at pH of 7.0. The enzyme activity was increased in the presence of metal ions especially Ca(+2) and decreased in the presence of EDTA indicating that the α-amylase was a metalloenzyme. However, addition of 1% Tween 20, Tween 80 and β-mercaptoethanol constrained the enzyme activity to 87, 96 and 89%, respectively. No considerable effect of organic solvents (ethanol, methanol, isopropanol, acetone and n-butanol) was observed on enzyme activity. With soluble starch as a substrate, the enzyme activity under optimized conditions was 73.8 U mg(-1). The α-amylase enzyme was active to hydrolyse starch forming maltose.

Cloning, Expression, and Purification of Hyperthermophile α-Amylase from Pyrococcus woesei

Objectives

In an attempt α-amylase gene from Pyrococcus woesei was amplified and cloned into a pTYB2 vector to generate the recombinant plasmid pTY- α-amylase.

Methods

Escherichia coli BL21 used as a host and protein expression was applied using IPTG. SDS-PAGE assay demonstrated the 100 kDa protein. Amylolytic activity of proteins produced by transformed E. coli cells was detected by zymography, and the rate of active α-amylase with and without the intein tag in both soluble conditions and as inclusion bodies solubilized by 4M urea were measured.

Results

Amylolytic activity of ∼185,000 U/L of bacterial culture was observed from the soluble form of the protein using this system.

Conclusion

These results indicate that this expression system was appropriate for the production of thermostable α-amylase.

Bacillus subtilis AprX involved in degradation of a heterologous protein during the late stationary growth phase

In Bacillus subtilis, extracellular protease-deficient mutants have been used in attempts to increase the productivity of heterologous proteins. We detected protease activity of AprX using protease zymography in the culture medium at the late stationary growth phase. An alpha-amylase-A522-PreS2 hybrid protein, in which the PreS2 antigen of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) is fused with the N-terminal 522-amino-acid polypeptide of B. subtilis alpha-amylase, has been produced in multiple-protease-deficient mutants. The B. subtilis KA8AX strain, which is deficient in eight extracellular proteases and AprX, did not show the proteolysis of alpha-amylase-A522-PreS2 in the late stationary growth phase. Moreover, the production of alpha-amylase-A522-PreS2 was about 80 mg/l, which was eight times higher than that by the KA8AX strain previously reported. In addition, we showed the degradation of the heterologous protein by AprX that leaked to the culture medium (probably caused by cell lysis) during the late stationary growth phase.

A novel, high performance enzyme for starch liquefaction. Discovery and optimization of a low pH, thermostable alpha-amylase

High throughput screening of microbial DNA libraries was used to identify alpha-amylases with phenotypic characteristics compatible with large scale corn wet milling process conditions. Single and multiorganism DNA libraries originating from various environments were targeted for activity and sequence-based screening approaches. After initial screening, 15 clones were designated as primary hits based upon activity at pH 4.5 or 95 degrees C without addition of endogenous Ca(2+). After further characterization, three enzyme candidates were chosen each with an exceptional expression of one or more aspects of the necessary phenotype: temperature stability, pH optimum, lowered reliance on Ca(2+) and/or enzyme rate. To combine the best aspects of the three phenotypes to optimize process compatibility, the natural gene homologues were used as a parental sequence set for gene reassembly. Approximately 21,000 chimeric daughter sequences were generated and subsets screened using a process-specific, high throughput activity assay. Gene reassembly resulted in numerous improved mutants with combined optimal phenotypes of expression, temperature stability, and pH optimum. After biochemical and process-specific characterization of these gene products, one alpha-amylase with exceptional process compatibility and economics was identified. This paper describes the synergistic approach of combining environmental discovery and laboratory evolution for identification and optimization of industrially important biocatalysts.

Molecular characterization of a dimeric intracellular maltogenic amylase of Bacillus subtilis SUH4-2

An additional amylase besides the typical alpha-amylase was detected in the cytoplasm of Bacillus subtilis SUH4-2, an isolate from Korean soil. The corresponding gene encoded a maltogenic amylase, which hydrolyzed cyclodextrin or starch to maltose and glucose; pullulan to panose; acarbose to glucose and acarviosine-glucose. Maltogenic amylase of B. subtilis SUH4-2 transferred sugar molecules to form various branched oligosaccharides upon the hydrolysis of substrates. The enzyme existed in a monomer-dimer equilibrium with a molar ratio of 3:2 in 50 mM KH(2)PO(4)-NaOH buffer (pH 7.0). The maltogenic amylase is most likely to be associated with carbohydrate metabolism in the cytoplasm, since the nucleotide sequence of the gene was highly homologous to the yvdF gene of B. subtilis 168, which is located in a gene cluster involved in maltose/maltodextrin utilization.

Alpha-amylase immobilized on plastic supports: stabilities, pH and temperature profiles and kinetic parameters

The covalent immobilization of alpha-amylase on new isocyanate, acid chloride and carboxylic acid--activated plastic supports shows the viability of such supports for immobilizing enzymes, especially those reacting with 1,6-diaminohexane and glutaraldehyde for producing side arms. The operational stability of immobilized alpha-amylase could be extended by crosslinking the enzyme or by extending the support's side arm (substrate concentration has no effect). Inactive immobilized alpha-amylase were unfolded and then refolded at elevated temperature, these supports were found to be essential in increasing the stability of the enzyme during refolding. The pH curves for the immobilized enzyme were in general found not to be shifted from the soluble enzyme's pH optimum, although one isocyanate plastic support derivative shifted the pH activity profile of alpha-amylase to a higher range by 1.5 pH units, probably due to reaction between the enzyme and the free anhydride groups existing on the support's surface. In all cases, the immobilized enzyme's temperature activity profiles were shifted to a lower temperature range when compared to the soluble enzyme. The immobilized alpha-amylase Michaelis constants increased and the the maximum rates and specific activities decreased when compared to the soluble enzyme kinetic parameters.

Site-directed mutagenesis of active site residues in Bacillus subtilis alpha-amylase

Site-directed mutagenesis of Bacillus subtilis N7 alpha-amylase has been performed to evaluate the roles of the active site residues in catalysis and to prepare an inactive catalytic-site mutant that can form a stable complex with natural substrates. Mutation of Asp-176, Glu-208, and Asp-269 to their amide forms resulted in over a 15,000-fold reduction of its specific activity, but all the mutants retained considerable substrate-binding abilities as estimated by gel electrophoresis in the presence of soluble starch. Conversion of His-180 to Asn resulted in a 20-fold reduction of kcat with a 5-fold increase in Km for a maltopentaose derivative. The relative affinities for acarbose vs. maltopentaose were also compared between the mutants and wild-type enzyme. The results are consistent with the roles previously proposed in Taka-amylase A and porcine pancreatic alpha-amylase based on their X-ray crystallographic analyses, although different pairs had been assigned as catalytic residues for each enzyme. Analysis of the residual activity of the catalytic-site mutants by gel electrophoresis has suggested that it derived from the wild-type enzyme contaminating the mutant preparations, which could be removed by use of an acarbose affinity column; thus, these mutants are completely devoid of activity. The affinity-purified mutant proteins should be useful for elucidating the complete picture of the interaction of this enzyme with starch.

Cloning, nucleotide sequence, and enzymatic characterization of an alpha-amylase from the ruminal bacterium Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens H17c

A Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens amylase gene was cloned and expressed by using its own promoter on the recombinant plasmid pBAMY100 in Escherichia coli. The amylase gene consisted of an open reading frame of 2,931 bp encoding a protein of 976 amino acids with a calculated Mr of 106,964. In E. coli(pBAMY100), more than 86% of the active amylase was located in the periplasm, and TnphoA fusion experiments showed that the enzyme had a functional signal peptide. The B. fibrisolvens amylase is a calcium metalloenzyme, and three conserved putative calcium-binding residues were identified. The amylase showed high sequence homology with other alpha-amylases in the three highly conserved regions which constitute the active centers. These and other conserved regions were located in the N-terminal half, and no similarity with any other amylase was detected in the remainder of the protein. Deletion of approximately 40% of the C-terminal portion of the amylase did not result in loss of amylolytic activity. The B. fibrisolvens amylase was identified as an endo-alpha-amylase by hydrolysis of the Phadebas amylase substrate, hydrolysis of gamma-cyclodextrin to maltotriose, maltose, and glucose and the characteristic shape of the blue value and reducing sugar curves. Maltotriose was the major initial hydrolysis product from starch, although extended incubation resulted in its hydrolysis to maltose and glucose.

Molecular cloning, nucleotide sequencing, and expression of the Bacillus subtilis (natto) IAM1212 alpha-amylase gene, which encodes an alpha-amylase structurally similar to but enzymatically distinct from that of B. subtilis 2633

An alpha-amylase gene of Bacillus subtilis (natto) IAM1212 was cloned in a lambda EMBL3 bacteriophage vector, and the nucleotide sequence was determined. An open reading frame encoding the alpha-amylase (AMY1212) consists of 1,431 base pairs and contains 477 amino acid residues, which is the same in size as the alpha-amylase (AMY2633) of B. subtilis 2633, an alpha-amylase-hyperproducing strain, and smaller than that of B. subtilis 168, Marburg strain. The amino acid sequence of AMY1212 is different from that of AMY2633 at five residues. Enzymatic properties of these two alpha-amylases were examined by introducing the cloned genes into an alpha-amylase-deficient strain, B. subtilis M15. It was revealed that products of soluble starch hydrolyzed by AMY1212 are maltose and maltotriose, while those of AMY2633 are glucose and maltose. From the detailed analyses with oligosaccharides as substrates, it was concluded that the difference in hydrolysis products of the two similar alpha-amylases should be ascribed to the different activity hydrolyzing low-molecular-weight substrates, especially maltotriose; AMY1212 slowly hydrolyzes maltotetraose and cannot hydrolyze maltotriose, while AMY2633 efficiently hydrolyzes maltotetraose and maltotriose. Further analyses with chimeric alpha-amylase molecules constructed from the cloned genes revealed that only one amino acid substitution is responsible for the differences in hydrolysis products.

Microbial amylolytic enzymes

Starch-degrading, amylolytic enzymes are widely distributed among microbes. Several activities are required to hydrolyze starch to its glucose units. These enzymes include alpha-amylase, beta-amylase, glucoamylase, alpha-glucosidase, pullulan-degrading enzymes, exoacting enzymes yielding alpha-type endproducts, and cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase. Properties of these enzymes vary and are somewhat linked to the environmental circumstances of the producing organisms. Features of the enzymes, their action patterns, physicochemical properties, occurrence, genetics, and results obtained from cloning of the genes are described. Among all the amylolytic enzymes, the genetics of alpha-amylase in Bacillus subtilis are best known. Alpha-Amylase production in B. subtilis is regulated by several genetic elements, many of which have synergistic effects. Genes encoding enzymes from all the amylolytic enzyme groups dealt with here have been cloned, and the sequences have been found to contain some highly conserved regions thought to be essential for their action and/or structure. Glucoamylase appears usually in several forms, which seem to be the results of a variety of mechanisms, including heterogeneous glycosylation, limited proteolysis, multiple modes of mRNA splicing, and the presence of several structural genes.

Alpha-amylase structure and activity

Two computerized methods of predicting protein secondary structure from amino acid sequences are evaluated by using them on the alpha-amylase of Aspergillus oryzae, for which the three-dimensional structure has been determined. The methods are then used, with amino acid alignments, to predict the structures of other alpha-amylases. It is found that all alpha-amylases of known amino acid sequence have the same basic structure, a barrel of eight parallel stretches of extended chain surrounded by eight helices. Strong similarities are found in those areas of the proteins believed to bind an essential calcium ion and at that part of the active site that catalyzes bond hydrolysis in the substrates. The active site, as a whole, is formed mainly of amino acids situated on loops joining extended chain to the adjacent helix. Variations in the length and amino acid sequence of these loops, from one alpha-amylase to another, provide the differences in binding the substrates believed to account for the known variations in action pattern of alpha-amylases of different biological origins.

Nucleotide sequence of the beta-cyclodextrin glucanotransferase gene of alkalophilic Bacillus sp. strain 1011 and similarity of its amino acid sequence to those of alpha-amylases

The nucleotide sequence of the gene for cyclodextrin glucanotransferase of alkalophilic Bacillus sp. strain 1011 was determined. The deduced amino acid sequence at the NH2-terminal side of the enzyme showed a high homology with the sequences of alpha-amylase in the three regions which constitutes the active centers of alpha-amylases.

Nucleotide sequence of the Bacillus stearothermophilus alpha-amylase gene

The nucleotide sequence of the Bacillus stearothermophilus alpha-amylase gene and its flanking regions was determined. An open reading frame was found, comprising a total of 1,647 base pairs (549 amino acids) and starting from a GUG codon as methionine. It was shown by NH2-terminal amino acid sequence analysis that the extracellular amylase consisted of 515 amino acid residues, which corresponded to a molecular weight of 58,779. Thus the NH2-terminal portion of the gene encodes 34 amino acid residues as a signal peptide. The amino acid sequence deduced from the alpha-amylase gene was fairly homologous (61%) with that of another thermostable amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens.

N-terminal amino acid sequence of Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase: comparison with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis Enzymes

The thermostable, liquefying alpha-amylase from Bacillus licheniformis was immunologically cross-reactive with the thermolabile, liquefying alpha-amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Their N-terminal amino acid sequences showed extensive homology with each other, but not with the saccharifying alpha-amylases of Bacillus subtilis.

Hybrid alpha-amylases produced by the transformants of Bacillus subtilis. III. A possible mechanism of formation of hybird alpha-amylases

Alpha-Amylases (NA64 and NA20) produced by the representative transformants Bacillus subtilis NA64 and NA20 were hybrid enzymes between the two parental alpha-amylases (NAT and MAR) produced by the DNA donor strain of Bacillus natto IAM 1212 and the DNA recipient strain of B. subtilis 6160, a derivative of B. subtilis 168. In order to elucidate a possible mechanism of formation of the hybrid alpha-amylases, 14C-labeled alpha-amylase (SAC) produced by B. subtilis var. amylosarcchariticus, [3H]lysine- and [3H]arginine-labeled alpha-amylases (MAR, NA64, NA20, NAT and SAC), [3H]lysine-labeled alpha-amylase (SAC) and [3H]glucosamine-labeled alpha-amylase (NA64) were purified through ammonium sulfate precipitation, carboxy-methylcellulose and DEAE-Sephadex A-50 column chromatography and immunoprecipitation with rabbit antiserum against alpha-amylase (SAC). Peptide compositions of the tryptic digests from the labeled alpha-amylases were analyzed by double-label AG 50W-X2 column chromatography. On the other hand, amino- and carboxy-terminal amino acid residues of unlabeled alpha-amylases (MAR, NA64, NA20 and NAT) were analyzed. Based on these results, the possibility of DNA recombination events in the alpha-amylase structure gene and on the previous results, we attempted to estimate possible peptide arrangements for the four alpha-amylases (MAR, NA64, NA20 and NAT) and possible recombination regions to form the hybrid enzymes introduced by the DNA-mediated transformation of B. subtilis 6160.

Preliminary Gene Characterization of α-Amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens UMAS 1002

Characterization of α-amylase gene sequence produced by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens UMAS 1002, acellulolytic and amylolytic bacilli isolated from sago pith waste is described here. The amyE gene encoding theα-amylase was isolated by polymerase chain reaction. The 1,980 bp of amyE gene corresponding to 660 aminoacids showed 99% homology to the α-amylase sequence from Bacillus subtilis X-23 (GenBank: BAA31528).The α-amylase sequence of B. amyloliquefaciens UMAS 1002 (GenBank: KC800929) differs from that of B.subtilis X-23 by 5 amino acids. In silico analysis of α-amylase from B. amyloliquefaciens UMAS 1002 showedsimilar characteristics compared to α-amylase from B. subtilis X-23.