Investigation of amino acids related to Staphylococcus saprophyticus AG1 EstAG1 carboxylesterase catalytic function revealed a new family of bacterial lipolytic enzymes

Most of the lipolytic enzymes (carboxylesterases, EC 3.1.1.1 and triacylglycerol acylhydrolases, EC 3.1.1.3) originate from bacteria and form a large group of functionally important enzymes that are also well known for their use in multiple biotechnology sectors. Rapid and increasing amount of bacterial lipolytic enzymes being discovered and characterized led to a necessity to classify them. More than twenty years ago bacterial lipolytic enzymes were originally classified into eight families and six true lipase sub-families based on the differences in their amino acid sequences and biochemical properties. Later, this classification was comprehensively updated to 19 families with eight subfamilies, and more recently, employing deeper comparative analysis methods, classification expanded to 35 families and 11 subfamilies. Bacterial lipolytic enzymes that cannot be classified into currently existing families are still being discovered. This work provides site-directed mutagenesis and differential scanning fluorimetry based investigation of catalytic function-related amino acids of previously discovered and characterized EstAG1 carboxylesterase from Staphylococcus saprophyticus AG1. Experimental results obtained in this work revealed that EstAG1 carboxylesterase can be placed into a new family of bacterial lipolytic enzymes.

Recombinant expression of insoluble enzymes in Escherichia coli: a systematic review of experimental design and its manufacturing implications

Recombinant enzyme expression in Escherichia coli is one of the most popular methods to produce bulk concentrations of protein product. However, this method is often limited by the inadvertent formation of inclusion bodies. Our analysis systematically reviews literature from 2010 to 2021 and details the methods and strategies researchers have utilized for expression of difficult to express (DtE), industrially relevant recombinant enzymes in E. coli expression strains. Our review identifies an absence of a coherent strategy with disparate practices being used to promote solubility. We discuss the potential to approach recombinant expression systematically, with the aid of modern bioinformatics, modelling, and ‘omics’ based systems-level analysis techniques to provide a structured, holistic approach. Our analysis also identifies potential gaps in the methods used to report metadata in publications and the impact on the reproducibility and growth of the research in this field.

Biochemical characterization and molecular docking analysis of novel esterases from Sphingobium chungbukense DJ77

We identified three novel microbial esterase (Est1, Est2, and Est3) from Sphingobium chungbukense DJ77. Multiple sequence alignment showed the Est1 and Est3 have distinct motifs, such as tetrapeptide motif HGGG, a pentapeptide sequence motif GXSXG, and catalytic triad residues Ser-Asp-His, indicating that the identified enzymes belong to family IV esterases. Interestingly, Est1 exhibited strong activity toward classical esterase substrates, p-nitrophenyl ester of short-chain fatty acids and long-chain. However, Est3 did not exhibit any activity despite having high sequence similarity and sharing the identical catalytic active residues with Est1. Est3 only showed hydrolytic degradation activity to polycaprolactone (PCL). MOE-docking prediction also provided the parameters consisting of binding energy, molecular docking score, and molecular distance between substrate and catalytic nucleophilic residue, serine. The engineered mutEst3 has hydrolytic activity for a variety of esters ranging from p-nitrophenyl esters to PCL. In the present study, we demonstrated that MOE-docking simulation provides a valuable insight for facilitating biocatalytic performance.

Effect of a Novel Alpha/Beta Hydrolase Domain Protein on Tolerance of K. marxianus to Lignocellulosic Biomass Derived Inhibitors

The multiple inhibitors tolerance of microorganism is important in bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass which is a promising renewable and sustainable source for biofuels and other chemicals. The disruption of an unknown α/β hydrolase, which was termed KmYME and located in mitochondria in this study, resulted in the yeast more susceptible to lignocellulose-derived inhibitors, particularly to acetic acid, furfural and 5-HMF. The KmYME disrupted strain lost more mitochondrial membrane potential, showed increased plasma membrane permeability, severer redox ratio imbalance, and increased ROS accumulation, compared with those of the non-disrupted strain in the presence of the same inhibitors. The intracellular concentration of ATP, NAD and NADP in the KmYME disrupted strain was decreased. However, disruption of KmYME did not result in a significant change of gene expression at the transcriptional level. The KmYME possessed esterase/thioesterase activity which was necessary for the resistance to inhibitors. In addition, KmYME was also required for the resistance to other stresses including ethanol, temperature, and osmotic pressure. Disruption of two possible homologous genes in S. cerevisiae also reduced its tolerance to inhibitors.

Characterization of a novel family VIII esterase EstM2 from soil metagenome capable of hydrolyzing estrogenic phthalates

BACKGROUND

Microbes are rich sources of enzymes and esterases are one of the most important classes of enzymes because of their potential for application in the field of food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and bioremediation. Due to limitations in their cultivation, only a small fraction of the complex microbial communities can be cultured from natural habitats. Thus to explore the catalytic potential of uncultured organisms, the metagenomic approach has turned out to be an effective alternative method for direct mining of enzymes of interest. Based on activity-based screening method, an esterase-positive clone was obtained from metagenomic libraries.

RESULTS

Functional screening of a soil metagenomic fosmid library, followed by transposon mutagenesis led to the identification of a 1179 bp esterase gene, estM2, that encodes a 392 amino acids long protein (EstM2) with a translated molecular weight of 43.12 kDa. Overproduction, purification and biochemical characterization of the recombinant protein demonstrated carboxylesterase activity towards short-chain fatty acyl esters with optimal activity for p-nitrophenyl butyrate at pH 8.0 and 37 °C. Amino acid sequence analysis and subsequent phylogenetic analysis suggested that EstM2 belongs to the family VIII esterases that bear modest similarities to class C β-lactamases. EstM2 possessed the conserved S-x-x-K motif of class C β-lactamases but did not exhibit β-lactamase activity. Guided by molecular docking analysis, EstM2 was shown to hydrolyze a wide range of di- and monoesters of alkyl-, aryl- and benzyl-substituted phthalates. Thus, EstM2 displays an atypical hydrolytic potential of biotechnological significance within family VIII esterases.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has led to the discovery of a new member of family VIII esterases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first phthalate hydrolase (EstM2), isolated from a soil metagenomic library that belongs to a family possessing β-lactamase like catalytic triad. Based on its catalytic potential towards hydrolysis of both phthalate diesters and phthalate monoesters, this enzyme may find use to counter the growing pollution caused by phthalate-based plasticizers in diverse geological environment and in other aspects of biotechnological applications.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa esterase PA2949, a bacterial homolog of the human membrane esterase ABHD6: expression, purification and crystallization

The human membrane-bound α/β-hydrolase domain 6 (ABHD6) protein modulates endocannabinoid signaling, which controls appetite, pain and learning, as well as being linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, through the degradation of the key lipid messenger 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG). This makes ABHD6 an attractive therapeutic target that lacks structural information. In order to better understand the molecular mechanism of 2-AG-hydrolyzing enzymes, the PA2949 protein from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which has 49% sequence similarity to the ABHD6 protein, was cloned, overexpressed, purified and crystallized. Overexpression of PA2949 in the homologous host yielded the membrane-bound enzyme, which was purified in milligram amounts. Besides their sequence similarity, the enzymes both show specificity for the hydrolysis of 2-AG and esters of medium-length fatty acids. PA2949 in the presence of n-octyl β-D-glucoside showed a higher activity and stability at room temperature than those previously reported for PA2949 overexpressed and purified from Escherichia coli. A suitable expression host and stabilizing detergent were crucial for obtaining crystals, which belonged to the tetragonal space group I4122 and diffracted to a resolution of 2.54 Å. This study provides hints on the functional similarity of ABHD6-like proteins in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and might guide the structural study of these difficult-to-crystallize proteins.

Biochemical profiles of two thermostable and organic solvent-tolerant esterases derived from a compost metagenome

Owing to the functional versatility and potential applications in industry, interest in lipolytic enzymes tolerant to organic solvents is increasing. In this study, functional screening of a compost soil metagenome resulted in identification of two lipolytic genes, est1 and est2, encoding 270 and 389 amino acids, respectively. The two genes were heterologously expressed and characterized. Est1 and Est2 are thermostable enzymes with optimal enzyme activities at 80 and 70 °C, respectively. A second-order rotatable design, which allows establishing the relationship between multiple variables with the obtained responses, was used to explore the combined effects of temperature and pH on esterase stability. The response curve indicated that Est1, and particularly Est2, retained high stability within a broad range of temperature and pH values. Furthermore, the effects of organic solvents on Est1 and Est2 activities and stabilities were assessed. Notably, Est2 activity was significantly enhanced (two- to tenfold) in the presence of ethanol, methanol, isopropanol, and 1-propanol over a concentration range between 6 and 30% (v/v). For the short-term stability (2 h of incubation), Est2 exhibited high tolerance against 60% (v/v) of ethanol, methanol, isopropanol, DMSO, and acetone, while Est1 activity resisted these solvents only at lower concentrations (below 30%, v/v). Est2 also displayed high stability towards some water-immiscible organic solvents, such as ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, and toluene. With respect to long-term stability, Est2 retained most of its activity after 26 days of incubation in the presence of 30% (v/v) ethanol, methanol, isopropanol, DMSO, or acetone. All of these features indicate that Est1 and Est2 possess application potential.

Characterization of Organic Solvent-Tolerant Lipolytic Enzyme from Marinobacter lipolyticus Isolated from the Antarctic Ocean

The Antarctic marine environment provides a good source of novel lipolytic enzymes that possess beneficial properties, i.e., resistance to extreme physical and chemical conditions. We found a lipolytic Escherichia coli colony that was transformed using genomic DNA from Marinobacter lipolyticus 27-A9 isolated from the Antarctic Ross Sea. DNA sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame of lipolytic enzyme gene. The gene translates a protein (LipA9) of 404 amino acids with molecular mass of 45,247 Da. Recombinant LipA9 was expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells and purified by anion exchange and gel filtration chromatography. The k_cat/K_m of LipA9 was 175 s^-1 μM^-1, and the optimum temperature and pH were 70 °C and pH 8.0, respectively. LipA9 had quite high organic solvent stability; it was stable toward several common organic solvents up to 50% concentration. Substrate specificity studies showed that LipA9 preferred a short acyl chain length of p-nitrophenyl ester and triglyceride. Sequence analysis showed that LipA9 contained catalytic Ser⁷² and Lys⁷⁵ in S-x-x-K motif, like family VIII esterases. Homology modeling and site-directed mutagenesis studies revealed that Tyr¹⁴¹ and Tyr¹⁸⁸ residues were located near the conserved motif and played an important role in catalytic activity.

Realm of Thermoalkaline Lipases in Bioprocess Commodities

For decades, microbial lipases are notably used as biocatalysts and efficiently catalyze various processes in many important industries. Biocatalysts are less corrosive to industrial equipment and due to their substrate specificity and regioselectivity they produced less harmful waste which promotes environmental sustainability. At present, thermostable and alkaline tolerant lipases have gained enormous interest as biocatalyst due to their stability and robustness under high temperature and alkaline environment operation. Several characteristics of the thermostable and alkaline tolerant lipases are discussed. Their molecular weight and resistance towards a range of temperature, pH, metal, and surfactants are compared. Their industrial applications in biodiesel, biodetergents, biodegreasing, and other types of bioconversions are also described. This review also discusses the advance of fermentation process for thermostable and alkaline tolerant lipases production focusing on the process development in microorganism selection and strain improvement, culture medium optimization via several optimization techniques (i.e., one-factor-at-a-time, surface response methodology, and artificial neural network), and other fermentation parameters (i.e., inoculums size, temperature, pH, agitation rate, dissolved oxygen tension (DOT), and aeration rate). Two common fermentation techniques for thermostable and alkaline tolerant lipases production which are solid-state and submerged fermentation methods are compared and discussed. Recent optimization approaches using evolutionary algorithms (i.e., Genetic Algorithm, Differential Evolution, and Particle Swarm Optimization) are also highlighted in this article.

Cell-bound lipases from Burkholderia sp. ZYB002: gene sequence analysis, expression, enzymatic characterization, and 3D structural model

Background

The whole-cell lipase from Burkholderia cepacia has been used as a biocatalyst in organic synthesis. However, there is no report in the literature on the component or the gene sequence of the cell-bound lipase from this species. Qualitative analysis of the cell-bound lipase would help to illuminate the regulation mechanism of gene expression and further improve the yield of the cell-bound lipase by gene engineering.

Results

Three predictive cell-bound lipases, lipA, lipC21 and lipC24, from Burkholderia sp. ZYB002 were cloned and expressed in E. coli. Both LipA and LipC24 displayed the lipase activity. LipC24 was a novel mesophilic enzyme and displayed preference for medium-chain-length acyl groups (C10-C14). The 3D structural model of LipC24 revealed the open Y-type active site. LipA displayed 96 % amino acid sequence identity with the known extracellular lipase. lipA-inactivation and lipC24-inactivation decreased the total cell-bound lipase activity of Burkholderia sp. ZYB002 by 42 % and 14 %, respectively.

Conclusions

The cell-bound lipase activity from Burkholderia sp. ZYB002 originated from a multi-enzyme mixture with LipA as the main component. LipC24 was a novel lipase and displayed different enzymatic characteristics and structural model with LipA. Besides LipA and LipC24, other type of the cell-bound lipases (or esterases) should exist.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12896-016-0269-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A membrane-bound esterase PA2949 from Pseudomonas aeruginosa is expressed and purified from Escherichia coli

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain 1001 produces an esterase (EstA) that can hydrolyse the racemic methyl ester of β-acetylthioisobutyrate to produce the (D)-enantiomer, which serves as a precursor of captopril, a drug used for treatment of hypertension. We show here that PA2949 from P. aeruginosa PA01, a homologue of EstA, can efficiently be expressed in an enzymatically active form in E. coli. The enzyme is membrane-associated as demonstrated by cell fractionation studies. PA2949 was purified to homogeneity after solubilisation with the nonionic detergent, Triton X-100, and was shown to possess a conserved esterase catalytic triad consisting of Ser137-His258-Asp286. Our results should allow the development of an expression and purification strategy to produce this biotechnologically relevant esterase in a pure form with a high yield.

Biochemical characterization and structural analysis of a new cold-active and salt-tolerant esterase from the marine bacterium Thalassospira sp

A gene encoding an esterase, ThaEst2349, was identified in the marine psychrophilic bacterium Thalassospira sp. GB04J01. The gene was cloned and overexpressed in E. coli as a His-tagged fusion protein. The recombinant enzyme showed optimal activity at 45 °C and the thermal stability displayed a retention of 75 % relative activity at 40 °C after 2 h. The optimal pH was 8.5 but the enzyme kept more than 75 % of its maximal activity between pH 8.0 and 9.5. ThaEst2349 also showed remarkable tolerance towards high concentrations of salt and it was active against short-chain p-nitrophenyl esters, displaying optimal activity with the acetate. The enzyme was tested for tolerance of organic solvents and the results are suggesting that it could function as an interesting candidate for biotechnological applications. The crystal structure of ThaEst2349 was determined to 1.69 Å revealing an asymmetric unit containing two chains, which also is the biological unit. The structure has a characteristic cap domain and a catalytic triad comprising Ser158, His285 and Asp255. To explain the cold-active nature of the enzyme, we compared it against thermophilic counterparts. Our hypothesis is that a high methionine content, less hydrogen bonds and less ion pairs render the enzyme more flexible at low temperatures.

Metagenomics of an Alkaline Hot Spring in Galicia (Spain): Microbial Diversity Analysis and Screening for Novel Lipolytic Enzymes

A fosmid library was constructed with the metagenomic DNA from the water of the Lobios hot spring (76°C, pH = 8.2) located in Ourense (Spain). Metagenomic sequencing of the fosmid library allowed the assembly of 9722 contigs ranging in size from 500 to 56,677 bp and spanning ~18 Mbp. 23,207 ORFs (Open Reading Frames) were predicted from the assembly. Biodiversity was explored by taxonomic classification and it revealed that bacteria were predominant, while the archaea were less abundant. The six most abundant bacterial phyla were Deinococcus-Thermus, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Aquificae, and Chloroflexi. Within the archaeal superkingdom, the phylum Thaumarchaeota was predominant with the dominant species “Candidatus Caldiarchaeum subterraneum.” Functional classification revealed the genes associated to one-carbon metabolism as the most abundant. Both taxonomic and functional classifications showed a mixture of different microbial metabolic patterns: aerobic and anaerobic, chemoorganotrophic and chemolithotrophic, autotrophic and heterotrophic. Remarkably, the presence of genes encoding enzymes with potential biotechnological interest, such as xylanases, galactosidases, proteases, and lipases, was also revealed in the metagenomic library. Functional screening of this library was subsequently done looking for genes encoding lipolytic enzymes. Six genes conferring lipolytic activity were identified and one was cloned and characterized. This gene was named LOB4Est and it was expressed in a yeast mesophilic host. LOB4Est codes for a novel esterase of family VIII, with sequence similarity to β-lactamases, but with unusual wide substrate specificity. When the enzyme was purified from the mesophilic host it showed half-life of 1 h and 43 min at 50°C, and maximal activity at 40°C and pH 7.5 with p-nitrophenyl-laurate as substrate. Interestingly, the enzyme retained more than 80% of maximal activity in a broad range of pH from 6.5 to 8.

Autophagy and endosomal trafficking inhibition by Vibrio cholerae MARTX toxin phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate-specific phospholipase A1 activity

Vibrio cholerae, responsible for acute gastroenteritis secretes a large multifunctional-autoprocessing repeat-in-toxin (MARTX) toxin linked to evasion of host immune system, facilitating colonization of small intestine. Unlike other effector domains of the multifunctional toxin that target cytoskeleton, the function of alpha-beta hydrolase (ABH) remained elusive. This study demonstrates that ABH is an esterase/lipase with catalytic Ser–His–Asp triad. ABH binds with high affinity to phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PtdIns3P) and cleaves the fatty acid in PtdIns3P at the sn1 position in vitro making it the first PtdIns3P-specific phospholipase A1 (PLA1). Expression of ABH in vivo reduces intracellular PtdIns3P levels and its PtdIns3P-specific PLA1 activity blocks endosomal and autophagic pathways. In accordance with recent studies acknowledging the potential of extracellular pathogens to evade or exploit autophagy to prevent their clearance and facilitate survival, this is the first report highlighting the role of ABH in inhibiting autophagy and endosomal trafficking induced by extracellular V. cholerae.

The MARTX toxin of V. cholerae processes itself to deliver three distinct effector domains to the cytosol. Here the authors show that the third effector domain is a phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PtdIns3P)-specific phospholipase that inhibits autophagy in target cells.

Diversity of hydrolases from hydrothermal vent sediments of the Levante Bay, Vulcano Island (Aeolian archipelago) identified by activity-based metagenomics and biochemical characterization of new esterases and an arabinopyranosidase

A metagenomic fosmid expression library established from environmental DNA (eDNA) from the shallow hot vent sediment sample collected from the Levante Bay, Vulcano Island (Aeolian archipelago) was established in Escherichia coli. Using activity-based screening assays, we have assessed 9600 fosmid clones corresponding to approximately 350 Mbp of the cloned eDNA, for the lipases/esterases/lactamases, haloalkane and haloacid dehalogenases, and glycoside hydrolases. Thirty-four positive fosmid clones were selected from the total of 120 positive hits and sequenced to yield ca. 1360 kbp of high-quality assemblies. Fosmid inserts were attributed to the members of ten bacterial phyla, including Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobateria, Firmicutes, Verrucomicrobia, Chloroflexi, Spirochaetes, Thermotogae, Armatimonadetes, and Planctomycetes. Of ca. 200 proteins with high biotechnological potential identified therein, we have characterized in detail three distinct α/β-hydrolases (LIPESV12_9, LIPESV12_24, LIPESV12_26) and one new α-arabinopyranosidase (GLV12_5). All LIPESV12 enzymes revealed distinct substrate specificities tested against 43 structurally diverse esters and 4 p-nitrophenol carboxyl esters. Of 16 different glycosides tested, the GLV12_5 hydrolysed only p-nitrophenol-α-(l)-arabinopyranose with a high specific activity of about 2.7 kU/mg protein. Most of the α/β-hydrolases were thermophilic and revealed a high tolerance to, and high activities in the presence of, numerous heavy metal ions. Among them, the LIPESV12_24 was the best temperature-adapted, retaining its activity after 40 min of incubation at 90 °C. Furthermore, enzymes were active in organic solvents (e.g., >30 % methanol). Both LIPESV12_24 and LIPESV12_26 had the GXSXG pentapeptides and the catalytic triads Ser-Asp-His typical to the representatives of carboxylesterases of EC 3.1.1.1.

Nucleotide and amino acid variations of tannase gene from different Aspergillus strains

Tannase is an enzyme that catalyses the hydrolysis of ester bonds present in tannins. Most of the scientific reports about this biocatalysis focus on aspects related to tannase production and its recovery; on the other hand, reports assessing the molecular aspects of the tannase gene or protein are scarce. In the present study, a tannase gene fragment from several Aspergillus strains isolated from the Mexican semidesert was sequenced and compared with tannase amino acid sequences reported in NCBI database using bioinformatics tools. The genetic relationship among the different tannase sequences was also determined. A conserved region of 7 amino acids was found with the conserved motif GXSXG common to esterases, in which the active-site serine residue is located. In addition, in Aspergillus niger strains GH1 and PSH, we found an extra codon in the tannase sequences encoding glycine. The tannase gene belonging to semidesert fungal strains followed a neutral evolution path with the formation of 10 haplotypes, of which A. niger GH1 and PSH haplotypes are the oldest.

Functional characterisation of a metagenome derived family VIII esterase with a deacetylation activity on β-lactam antibiotics

Family VIII esterases represent a poorly characterised esterase family, with high sequence identity to class C β-lactamases, peptidases and penicillin binding proteins. This study reports on the metagenomic library screening and biochemical characterisation of a novel esterase (Est22) derived from an acidic Leachate environment. The enzyme is 423 amino acids in length and contained 22 aa signal peptide. The Est22 primary structure revealed the presence of N-terminus S-x-x-K sequence, which is also highly conserved in class C β-lactamases, peptidases as well as carboxylesterases belonging to family VIII. Phylogenetic analysis using the representative sequences from class C β-lactamases and family VIII esterases indicated that Est22 is a member of family VIII esterases. Substrate specificity profiling using p-nitrophenyl esters (C2-C16) indicated that Est22 preferred shorter chain p-nitrophenyl esters (C2-C5), a characteristic that is typical for true carboxylesterases. In addition of hydrolysing Nitrocefin, Est22 also hydrolysed first generation cephalosporin based derivatives. Detailed selectivity study using different cephalosporin based substrates indicated that Est22 selectively hydrolyse the ester bond of a cephalosporin derivatives leaving the amide bond of the β-lactam ring intact. The selective nature of Est22 makes this enzyme a potential candidate for the use in the synthesis and modification cephalosporin based molecules.

Draft Genome Sequence of the Moderately Halophilic Bacterium Marinobacter lipolyticus Strain SM19

Marinobacter lipolyticus strain SM19, isolated from saline soil in Spain, is a moderately halophilic bacterium belonging to the class Gammaproteobacteria. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of this strain, which consists of a 4.0-Mb chromosome and which is able to produce the halophilic enzyme lipase LipBL.

Halophilic bacteria as a source of novel hydrolytic enzymes

Hydrolases constitute a class of enzymes widely distributed in nature from bacteria to higher eukaryotes. The halotolerance of many enzymes derived from halophilic bacteria can be exploited wherever enzymatic transformations are required to function under physical and chemical conditions, such as in the presence of organic solvents and extremes in temperature and salt content. In recent years, different screening programs have been performed in saline habitats in order to isolate and characterize novel enzymatic activities with different properties to those of conventional enzymes. Several halophilic hydrolases have been described, including amylases, lipases and proteases, and then used for biotechnological applications. Moreover, the discovery of biopolymer-degrading enzymes offers a new solution for the treatment of oilfield waste, where high temperature and salinity are typically found, while providing valuable information about heterotrophic processes in saline environments. In this work, we describe the results obtained in different screening programs specially focused on the diversity of halophiles showing hydrolytic activities in saline and hypersaline habitats, including the description of enzymes with special biochemical properties. The intracellular lipolytic enzyme LipBL, produced by the moderately halophilic bacterium Marinobacter lipolyticus, showed advantages over other lipases, being an enzyme active over a wide range of pH values and temperatures. The immobilized LipBL derivatives obtained and tested in regio- and enantioselective reactions, showed an excellent behavior in the production of free polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). On the other hand, the extremely halophilic bacterium, Salicola marasensis sp. IC10 showing lipase and protease activities, was studied for its ability to produce promising enzymes in terms of its resistance to temperature and salinity.