Secretion and properties of a hybrid Kluyveromyces lactis-Aspergillus niger beta-galactosidase

Characterization of putative mannoprotein in Kluyveromyces lactis for lactase production

Lactase is a member of the β-galactosidase family of enzymes that can hydrolyze lactose into galactose and glucose. However, extracellular lactase production was still restricted to the process of cell lysis. In this study, lactase-producing Kluyveromyces lactis JNXR-2101 was obtained using a rapid and sensitive method based on the fluorescent substrate 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-d-galactopyranoside. The purified enzyme was identified as a neutral lactase with an optimum pH of 9. To facilitate extracellular production of lactase, a putative mannoprotein KLLA0_E01057g of K. lactis was knocked out. It could effectively promote cell wall degradation and lactase production after lyticase treatment, which showed potential on other extracellular enzyme preparation. After optimizing the fermentation conditions, the lactase yield from mannoprotein-deficient K. lactis JNXR-2101ΔE01057g reached 159.62 U/mL in a 5-L fed-batch bioreactor.

Genome-Wide Analysis of β-Galactosidases in Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris 8004

Bacterial β-galactosidase is involved in lactose metabolism and acts as a prevalent reporter enzyme used in studying the activities of prokaryotic and eukaryotic promoters. Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) is the pathogen of black rot disease in crucifers. β-Galactosidase activity can be detected in Xcc culture, which makes Escherichia coli LacZ unable to be used as a reporter enzyme in Xcc. To systemically understand the β-galactosidase in Xcc and construct a β-galactosidase -deficient strain for promoter activity analysis using LacZ as a reporter, we here analyzed the putative β-galactosidases in Xcc 8004. As glycosyl hydrolase (GH) family 2 (GH2) and 35 (GH35) family enzymes were reported to have beta-galactosidase activities, we studied all of them encoded by Xcc 8004. When expressed in E. coli, only two of the enzymes, XC1214 and XC2985, were found to have β-galactosidase activity. When deleted from the Xcc 8004 genome, only the XC1214 mutant had no β-galactosidase activity, and other GH2 and GH35 gene deletions resulted in no significant reduction in β-galactosidase activity. Therefore, XC1214 is the main β-galactosidase in Xcc 8004. Notably, we have constructed a β-galactosidase-free strain that can be employed in gene traps using LacZ as a reporter in Xcc. The results reported herein should facilitate the development of high-capacity screening assays that utilize the LacZ reporter system in Xcc.

Sources of β-galactosidase and its applications in food industry

The enzyme β-galactosidases have been isolated from various sources such as bacteria, fungi, yeast, vegetables, and recombinant sources. This enzyme holds importance due to its wide applications in food industries to manufacture lactose-hydrolyzed products for lactose-intolerant people and the formation of glycosylated products. Absorption of undigested lactose in small intestine requires the activity of this enzyme; hence, the deficiency of this enzyme leads to lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance affects around 70% of world's adult population, while the prevalence rate of lactose intolerance is 60% in Pakistan. β-Galactosidases are not only used to manufacture lactose-free products but also employed to treat whey, and used in prebiotics. This review focuses on various sources of β-galactosidase and highlights the importance of β-galactosidases in food industries.

Fast-track development of a lactase production process with Kluyveromyces lactis by a progressive parameter-control workflow

The time-to-market challenge is key to success for consumer goods affiliated industries. In recent years, the dairy industry faces a fast and constantly growing demand for enzymatically produced lactose-free milk products, mainly driven by emerging markets in South America and Asia. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, we developed a fermentation process for lactase (β-galactosidase) from Kluyveromyces lactis within short time. Here, we describe the process of stepwise increasing the level of control over relevant process parameters during scale-up that established a highly efficient and stable production system. Process development started with evolutionary engineering to generate catabolite-derepressed variants of the K. lactis wild-type strain. A high-throughput screening mimicking fed-batch cultivation identified a constitutive lactase overproducer with 260-fold improved activity of 4.4 U per milligram dry cell weight when cultivated in glucose minimal medium. During scale-up, process control was progressively increased up to the level of conventional, fully controlled fed-batch cultivations by simulating glucose feed, applying pH- and dissolved oxygen tension (DOT)-sensor technology to small scale, and by the use of a milliliter stirred tank bioreactor. Additionally, process development was assisted by design-of-experiments optimization of the growth medium employing the response surface methodology.

Yeast on the milky way: genetics, physiology and biotechnology of Kluyveromyces lactis

The milk yeast Kluyveromyces lactis has a life cycle similar to that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and can be employed as a model eukaryote using classical genetics, such as the combination of desired traits, by crossing and tetrad analysis. Likewise, a growing set of vectors, marker cassettes and tags for fluorescence microscopy are available for manipulation by genetic engineering and investigating its basic cell biology. We here summarize these applications, as well as the current knowledge regarding its central metabolism, glucose and extracellular stress signalling pathways. A short overview on the biotechnological potential of K. lactis concludes this review.

Identification, cloning and expression of a cold-active beta-galactosidase from a novel Arctic bacterium, Alkalilactibacillus ikkense

A novel, cold-active beta-galactosidase was isolated from an Arctic Gram-positive bacterium, Alkalilactibacillus ikkense. The corresponding gene was cloned and expressed as an active enzyme in Escherichia coli. Denaturing gel electrophoresis of both the native and the recombinant beta-galactosidase showed a monomeric molecular weight of 115-120 kDa. Analysis of the DNA sequence showed sequence similarity to known Glycosyl Hydrolase Family 2 beta-galactosidases from the genera Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Geobacillus, and Lactobacillus. The beta-galactosidase from this study was purified and shown to be highly active at low temperatures with more than 60% of its maximal activity maintained at 0 degrees C. The apparent optimal activity was observed at temperatures between 20 degrees C and 30 degrees C and at pH 8. The purified recombinant enzyme was stable without stabilizing agents for more than 100 hours at temperatures at and below 10 degrees C. At temperatures 40 degrees C and above, the beta-galactosidase was irreversibly inactivated within 10 minutes. When lactose was present in substantial amounts, the enzyme displayed transgalactosylation activity. Comparison of the beta-galactosidase with a commercially available enzyme showed that the conversion rate of the A. ikkense enzyme was approximately two-fold higher at temperatures between 0 degrees C and 20 degrees C.

Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for lactose/whey fermentation

Lactose is an interesting carbon source for the production of several bio-products by fermentation, primarily because it is the major component of cheese whey, the main by-product of dairy activities. However, the microorganism more widely used in industrial fermentation processes, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, does not have a lactose metabolization system. Therefore, several metabolic engineering approaches have been used to construct lactose-consuming S. cerevisiae strains, particularly involving the expression of the lactose genes of the phylogenetically related yeast Kluyveromyces lactis, but also the lactose genes from Escherichia coli and Aspergillus niger, as reviewed here. Due to the existing large amounts of whey, the production of bio-ethanol from lactose by engineered S. cerevisiae has been considered as a possible route for whey surplus. Emphasis is given in the present review on strain improvement for lactose-to-ethanol bioprocesses, namely flocculent yeast strains for continuous high-cell-density systems with enhanced ethanol productivity.

A new cold-adapted beta-D-galactosidase from the Antarctic Arthrobacter sp. 32c - gene cloning, overexpression, purification and properties

BACKGROUND

The development of a new cold-active beta-D-galactosidases and microorganisms that efficiently ferment lactose is of high biotechnological interest, particularly for lactose removal in milk and dairy products at low temperatures and for cheese whey bioremediation processes with simultaneous bio-ethanol production.

RESULTS

In this article, we present a new beta-D-galactosidase as a candidate to be applied in the above mentioned biotechnological processes. The gene encoding this beta-D-galactosidase has been isolated from the genomic DNA library of Antarctic bacterium Arthrobacter sp. 32c, sequenced, cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris, purified and characterized. 27 mg of beta-D-galactosidase was purified from 1 L of culture with the use of an intracellular E. coli expression system. The protein was also produced extracellularly by P. pastoris in high amounts giving approximately 137 mg and 97 mg of purified enzyme from 1 L of P. pastoris culture for the AOX1 and a constitutive system, respectively. The enzyme was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by using either one step- or a fast two step- procedure including protein precipitation and affinity chromatography. The enzyme was found to be active as a homotrimeric protein consisting of 695 amino acid residues in each monomer. Although, the maximum activity of the enzyme was determined at pH 6.5 and 50 degrees C, 60% of the maximum activity of the enzyme was determined at 25 degrees C and 15% of the maximum activity was detected at 0 degrees C.

CONCLUSION

The properties of Arthrobacter sp. 32cbeta-D-galactosidase suggest that this enzyme could be useful for low-cost, industrial conversion of lactose into galactose and glucose in milk products and could be an interesting alternative for the production of ethanol from lactose-based feedstock.

Heterologous production of secondary metabolites as pharmaceuticals in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Heterologous expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis of various products is of increasing interest in biotechnology and in drug research and development. Microbial cells are most appropriate for this purpose. Availability of more microbial genomic sequences in recent years has greatly facilitated the elucidation of metabolic and regulatory networks and helped gain overproduction of desired metabolites or create novel production of commercially important compounds. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as one of the most intensely studied eukaryotic model organisms with a rich density of knowledge detailing its genetics, biochemistry, physiology, and large-scale fermentation performance, can be capitalized upon to enable a substantial increase in the industrial application of this yeast. In this review, we describe recent efforts made to produce commercial secondary metabolites in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as pharmaceuticals. As natural products are increasingly becoming the center of attention of the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, such as naringenin, coumarate, artemisinin, taxol, amorphadiene and vitamin C, the use of S. cerevisiae for their production is only expected to expand in the future, further allowing the biosynthesis of novel molecular structures with unique properties.