Production of a thermostable uricase by a novel Bacillus thermocatenulatus strain

A novel uricase-producing bacterium was identified based on its 16S rRNA sequence as Bacillus thermocatenulatus. The kinetic constants for this uricase, determined with uric acid as the substrate, were a V(max) of 0.99U/ml of enzyme and a K(m) of 0.25mM. After heat treatment at 75 degrees C for 45min, the uricase retained about 100% of its initial activity. The uric acid showed to be an inducer for uricase production. The effects of different factors on the enzyme production were studied. Pretreated cane molasses and corn steep liquor were the most promising carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. When the strain was cultured at 30 degrees C at pH 7.0 for 30-36h, the uricase activity peaked at 1.25U/ml.     

Purine Catabolism in Advanced Carotid Artery Plaque

This study was carried out on carotid artery plaque and plasma of 50 patients. We analyzed uric acid, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and allantoin levels to verify if enzymatic purine degradation occurs in advanced carotid plaque; we also determined free radicals and sulphydryl groups to check if there is a correlation between oxidant status and purine catabolism. Comparing plaque and plasma we found higher levels of free radicals, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and a decrease of some oxidant protectors, such as sulphydryl groups and uric acid, in plaque. We also observed a very important phenomenon in plaque, the presence of allantoin due to chemical oxidation of uric acid, since humans do not have the enzyme uricase. The hypothetical elevated activity of xanthine oxidase in atherosclerosis could be reduced by specific therapies using its inhibitors, such as oxypurinol or allopurinol.     

Purine catabolism in advanced carotid artery plaque

This study was carried out on carotid artery plaque and plasma of 50 patients. We analyzed uric acid, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and allantoin levels to verify if enzymatic purine degradation occurs in advanced carotid plaque; we also determined free radicals and sulphydryl groups to check if there is a correlation between oxidant status and purine catabolism. Comparing plaque and plasma we found higher levels of free radicals, hypoxanthine, xanthine, and a decrease of some oxidant protectors, such as sulphydryl groups and uric acid, in plaque. We also observed a very important phenomenon in plaque, the presence of allantoin due to chemical oxidation of uric acid, since humans do not have the enzyme uricase. The hypothetical elevated activity of xanthine oxidase in atherosclerosis could be reduced by specific therapies using its inhibitors, such as oxypurinol or allopurinol.     

Isolation of a thermostable uricase-producing bacterium and study on its enzyme production conditions

A uricase-producing bacterium was isolated from soil with a medium containing uric acid as the only carbon source. Based on its morphological and physiological characteristics, as well as 16S rDNA sequence and phylogenetic tree analysis, this new isolate belong to the genus Microbacterium. After heat treatment at 70 °C for 30 min, the uricase retained about 100% of the initial activity. The enzyme activity remained largely unchanged when it was stored in borate buffer at pH 8.5 at 37 °C for 40 days. The effects of different factors on the enzyme production were studied. Maize milk was the best C and N resources, and the uric acid showed to be an inducer for uricase production. When the strain was cultured at 30 °C at pH 7.5 for 30–36 h, the uricase activity peaked at 1.0 U/ml.     

Uricase from soybean root nodules: Purification,properties, and comparison with the enzyme from cowpea

A 45-fold purification of uricase (urate:O₂ oxidoreductase, EC 1.7.3.3) from soybean root nodules by ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration, and affinity chromatography is described. Electrophoresis on nondenaturing gels using an activity stain or on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) gels demonstrated that the enzyme obtained was nearly homogeneous. The subunit molecular weight of uricase estimated from SDS gels was 32,000 ± 3000. Gel-filtration studies indicated that the native enzyme is a monomer at pH 7.5 which associates to form a dimer at pH 8.8. Enzyme activity was stabilized by the addition of dithiothreitol. The pH dependence of the enzyme showed an optimum of 9.5. Initial rate kinetics showed K_m values of 10 and 31 μm for uric acid and oxygen, respectively, with an intersecting pattern of substrate dependence. Uricase activity was inhibited strongly by xanthine, which was competitive with respect to uric acid (K_i = 10 μm). No significant inhibition was observed in the presence of a variety of amino acids, ammonium, adenine, or allopurinol, in contrast with results reported for the cowpea enzyme. Gel-filtration chromatography and SDS-gel electrophoresis of uricase purified by the same method from cowpea nodules indicated that the native enzyme exists as a monomer of M_r 50,000 at pH 7.5.     

Purification and Properties of Uricase from Enterobacter cloacae

Uricase activity was found in Enterobacter cloacae KY3074 grown on guanine, hypoxanthine, uric acid, and xanthine media. The enzyme was purified from cells grown on uric acid as a source of nitrogen. The purification procedure included ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-150, and column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and DEAE-Sephadex. The enzyme had a molecular weight of about 105,000 and was specific for uric acid. The optimum pH was around 9.5, and the activity was inhibited by the presence of potassium cyanide, Ag⁺ or Cu²⁺. This uricase can be used for estimation of uric acid.     

尿酸氧化酶基因的克隆、表达及其产物的应用

克隆了产朊假丝酵母(Candida utilis)AS2-117尿酸氧化酶(Urate Oxidase,Uricase,EC1.7.3.3)的基因。将此基因插入原核表达质粒pET21a后转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3),获得高表达的重组转化子菌株。经IPTG诱导,重组尿酸酶基因表达量可达菌体可溶性蛋白的40%。重组尿酸氧化酶为有酶活性的可溶蛋白。Western印迹分析证实表达产物有免疫学活性。经DEAE DE52纤维素离子交换柱层析纯化,目的蛋白纯度可达95%。重组蛋白和天然蛋白的理化特征比较证明重组蛋白的热稳定性有较大提高。酶盒配制和临床应用实验表明重组蛋白可代替天然蛋白进行临床血清尿酸的分析。     

Effect of surfactants and inducers on increased uricase production under submerged fermentations by Bacillus cereus

Uricase is a clinical enzyme used for the oxidation of uric acid crystals in gout disease. The present study aimed to increase the suitable surfactant-mediated uricase production on induction by different concentrations of inducers. The efficiency of Bacillus cereus to produce extracellular uricase enzyme was studied in uric acid-containing agar plates. Among the studied inducers, uric acid is the potential inducer for uricase production under submerged fermentations (SMF), which induced 19.41?U/ml uricase in medium containing 2.0?g/L of uric acid, however further increase in the uric acid concentration decreased uricase production, which could be because of substrate inhibition. The physical parameters including agitation speed (rpm) and time duration (h) of uricase production were optimized and found to produce optimum uricase at 150?rpm in 26?h of SMF. Among the studied surfactants, nonionic surfactant, polyvinyl alcohol has shown a remarkable increase in the uricase production of 31.58?U/ml, which is a 61% increase under optimized conditions in SMF. The stability of produced uricase was found at pH 7.5 and temperature 30°C. Also the effects of various metal ions (1?mM) on the uricase activity were studied and observed to be inhibitory in nature in the descending order K⁺?>?Ca²⁺?>?Zn²⁺?>?Fe³⁺?>?Ni²⁺?>?Mg²⁺?>?Mn²⁺?>?Cu²⁺.     

Plasma uric acid levels in ethanol-fed turkey poults treated with allopurinol

Plasma uric acid levels were determined in ethanol-fed poults following administration of allopurinol. In young poults, allopurinol at a dose of 50 mg/kg significantly depressed plasma uric acid levels 6 hr post-dosing. At 11 hr post-dosing, plasma uric acid levels were significantly elevated in the allopurinol-treated poults when compared with control poults. During a period of ethanol abstinence, allopurinol at a dose of 40 mg/kg significantly depressed plasma uric acid levels up to 8 hr post-dosing. At a dose of 30 mg/kg, plasma uric acid levels were similar to control values at 4 and 6 hr post-dosing. Data suggest that plasma uric acid levels can be depressed in ethanol poults when allopurinol is administered every 8 hr at a dose of 40-50 mg/kg of body weight.     

Purine nucleotide catabolism in rat liver: labelling of uric acid and allantoin after treatment with oxonic acid and allopurinol

In our previous experiments on rat liver we found that 15' after intraperitoneal administration of 14C-formate the specific radioactivity of allantoin was always higher than that of uric acid. The present experiments have been carried out to interpret this unexpected result, which was only observed in liver and we studied: a) the incorporation of 14C-glycine into uric acid and allantoin; b) the effects of two competitive inhibitors of xanthine oxidase and uricase, oxonic acid and allopurinol respectively, on levels of uric acid and allantoin in liver and on their specific radioactivity after administration of labelled precursor. The results suggested: a) that under normal conditions, the formation of allantoin is so fast that it exceedes export from liver to serum, and thus the radioactivity of labelled precursors accumulates in allantoin; b) that when allopurinol or oxonic acid are administered, the rate of export exceeds that of allantoin formation and the incorporation of radioactivity into allantoin is lower; c) that not all the data, however, could be interpreted on this basis, but seems to require the existence of different pools of uric acid, which are transformed separately into allantoin.     

Phylogenetic Articulation of Uric Acid Evolution in Mammals and How It Informs a Therapeutic Uricase

The role of uric acid during primate evolution has remained elusive ever since it was discovered over 100 years ago that humans have unusually high levels of the small molecule in our serum. It has been difficult to generate a neutral or adaptive explanation in part because the uricase enzyme evolved to become a pseudogene in apes thus masking typical signals of sequence evolution. Adding to the difficulty is a lack of clarity on the functional role of uric acid in apes. One popular hypothesis proposes that uric acid is a potent antioxidant that increased in concentration to compensate for the lack of vitamin C synthesis in primate species ∼65 Ma. Here, we have expanded on our previous work with resurrected ancient uricase proteins to better resolve the reshaping of uricase enzymatic activity prior to ape evolution. Our results suggest that the pivotal death-knell to uricase activity occurred between 20 and 30 Ma despite small sequential modifications to its catalytic efficiency for the tens of millions of years since primates lost their ability to synthesize vitamin C, and thus the two appear uncorrelated. We also use this opportunity to demonstrate how molecular evolution can contribute to biomedicine by presenting ancient uricases to human immune cells that assay for innate reactivity against foreign antigens. A highly stable and highly catalytic ancient uricase is shown to elicit a lower immune response in more human haplotypes than other uricases currently in therapeutic development.     

A problem on the uric acid value of rats for clinical evaluation

Routine monitoring on levels of serum uric acid in the rats has been widely employed as an important factor in the nucleic acid metabolism, despite of the presence of the uricase in them. In this paper, it is confirmed that the levels of allantoin in serum and urine of the normal rats were higher than those of uric acid. Therefore, the concentration of allantoin in serum and urine of the rats with abnormal nucleic acid metabolism caused by adenine administration were measured. The results indicated that the value of serum allantoin was more sensitive to abnormal nucleic acid metabolism.     

Role of uricase in the triggering of germination of Bacillus fastidiosus spores.

The likelihood that uric acid was the only compound capable of triggering germination of Bacillus fastidiosus spores was reinforced by the finding that ureidoglycollic acid, urea, NH4Cl, 2,8-dihydroxypurine and a combination of L-alanine and O-carbamoyl-D-serine were ineffective as germinants. Uric acid-triggered germination of B. fastidiosus was prevented by a range of inhibitors that also inhibited uricase activity in dormant spore extracts. O2 uptake during germination started immediately after addition of uric acid, possibly as a consequence of the oxidation of uric acid by the enzyme uricase. Germination showed a dependence on uric acid concentration, with a relatively high Km (4-5 mM). During the first 10 min of germination of heat-activated spores there was no detectable change in the number of spore-cortex reducing groups, indicating that selective cortex hydrolysis is not involved in the trigger mechanism of germination of B. fastidiosus. On the basis of the results, a model is proposed in which re-initiation of uricase activity is the mechanism by which B. fastidiosus spores are triggered to emerge from the dormant state.     

Electrochemical detection of uric acid via uricase-immobilized graphene oxide

Measurement of the uric acid level in the body can be improved by biosensing with respect to the accuracy, sensitivity and time consumption. This study has reported the immobilization of uricase onto graphene oxide (GO) and its function for electrochemical detection of uric acid. Through chemical modification of GO using 1-ethyl-3-(dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hydroxysulfosuccinimide (NHS) as cross-linking reagents, the enzyme activity of the immobilized uricase was much comparable to the free enzyme with 88% of the activity retained. The modified GO-uricase (GOU) was then subjected to electrocatalytic detection of uric acid (UA) via cyclic voltammetry (CV). For that reason, a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was modified by adhering the GO along with the immobilized uricase to facilitate the redox reaction between the enzyme and the substrate. The modified GOU/GCE outperformed a bare electrode through the electrocatalytic activity with an amplified electrical signal for the detection of UA. The electrocatalytic response showed a linear dependence on the UA concentration ranging from 0.02 to 0.49 mM with a detection limit of 3.45 μM at 3σ/m. The resulting biosensor also exhibited a high selectivity towards UA in the presence of other interference as well as good reproducibility.     

Determination of uric acid in biological fluids by high-pressure liquid chromatography

A high-pressure liquid chromatographic assay for uric acid in biological fluids has been developed. Blood uric acid can be analyzed in as little as 20 μl of plasma. The mean and range of plasma uric acid concentrations in healthy adults determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography were similar to these obtained by enzymatic analysis. One of the advantages of the present method is that naturally occurring metabolites in biological fluids or drugs do not interfere with the analysis. Data are presented for blood and urine specimens obtained from mice fed a known uricase inhibitor, potassium oxonate. Comparisons are made between the present method and methods previously employed for uric acid determination.     

假丝酵母尿酸酶形成条件

选出了一株产尿酸酶的产朊候丝酵母(Candida utilis)AS2．117。此菌株尿酸酶形成条件的研究表明：尿酸、黄嘌呤和鸟嘌呤对酶形成起诱导作用;玉米浆对菌株生长和酶形成起十分重要的作用;蔗糖、葡萄塘、D-甘露糖和果糖是酶形成的适合碳源;生物素对酶产生有促进作用;在含有玉米浆培养基中加入无机氮源对产酶无作用,添加有机氮略增加产酶量。尿酸酶形成最适培养基组成为(％)：蔗糖;,玉米浆3,尿酸0．1,蛋白胨0．1,生物素0．05,KCI0．1,NaCl 0.1。最适pH为6．2。在250ml三角瓶中装30ml培养基为最适。在200r／min的旋转摇床上25℃振荡培养21h,在此条件下最终酶活力可达0．6u／ml。     

Isolation and characterization of infected and uninfected cells from soybean nodules : role of uninfected cells in ureide synthesis

The distribution of organelles and associated enzymes between cells containing bacteroids and uninfected cells from nodules of Glycine max L. Merr. cv Amsoy 71 was investigated by separation of protoplasts on a sucrose step-gradient. Infected protoplasts were much larger, irregular in shape, and more dense than uninfected protoplasts. The peroxisomal enzymes, uricase and catalase, were present at much higher specific activity in the uninfected cell fraction. Allantoinase, an enzyme of the endoplasmic reticulum, had a greater specific activity in the uninfected cell fraction. Several enzymes whose products are required for purine biosynthesis, including phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, exhibited a higher specific activity in the uninfected cell fraction. Isozymes of aspartate aminotransferase were separated on native gels and located by an activity stain. The soluble isozyme was predominantly found in the uninfected cell fraction. These data suggest that peroxisomes, containing uricase and catalase for conversion of uric acid to allantoin, are present only in the uninfected cells of soybean nodules. The uninfected cells also appear to be the site of the allantoinase reaction.     

Purification, and properties of a bovine uricase

Uricase from bovine kidney, purified to homogeneity level, had a molecular weight of 70 kDa. The apparent K(m) and V(max) values for uric acid hydrolysis were 0.125 mM and 102 IU mg(-1) protein respectively. The activation energy requirement for uric acid hydrolysis by uricase and inactivation of enzyme were 11.6 and 14.5 kJ/M respectively. Both enthalpy (Delta H*) and entropy of activation (Delta S*) for uricase activity were lower than those reported for some thermostable enzymes.     

Purification and characterization of uricase,a nitrogen-regulated enzyme,from Neurospora crassa

Uricase, a purine catabolic enzyme, is controlled by induction and by nitrogen catabolite repression in Neurospora. Uricase was purified nearly 1000-fold to homogeneity. Only a single protein band could be detected in analytical gels of the pure enzyme, and the protein band in each case corresponded exactly to the position of in situ staining for enzyme activity. The molecular weight of native uricase was estimated to be 123,000 ± 7000. The enzyme is a tetramer composed of identical or similar-sized subunits. The K_m value of uricase for uric acid was estimated to be 4.2 × 10^?5, m. Oxonic acid was shown to be a competitive inhibitor of uricase, with a K_i value of 6.7 × 10^?7, m. Uricase is a stable enzyme and is not subject to feedback inhibition by ammonia, glutamate, or glutamine in Neurospora. The regulation of uricase appears to occur primarily at the biosynthesis level. Uricase appears to be a metalloenzyme with no essential sulfhydryl groups.     

Production of uricase by Candida tropicalis using n-alkane as a substrate.

Production of uricase (urate oxidase, EC 1.7.3.3) by n-alkane-utilizing Candida tropicalis pK233 was studied. Although the yeast showed very low enzyme productivity under growing conditions on glucose or an n-alkane mixture (C10 to C13) (less than 2 U/g of dry cells), enzyme formation was enhanced markedly in an induction medium consisting of potassium phosphate buffer, MgSO4, uric acid, and an n-alkane mixture (47 U/g of dry cells) or glucose (21 U/g of dry cells). Of the carbon sources tested, the n-alkane mixture was the most suitable for enzyme production. Appropriate aeration also stimulated uricase formation. In addition to uric acid, xanthine, guanine, adenine, and hypoxanthine were also effective for inducing uricase. Under optimum conditions, the maximum yield of the enzyme was 91 U/g of dry cells. Uricase thus induced was localized in the microbodies of the yeast.