Thermostable peroxidase from Bacillus stearothermophilus

A peroxidase from Bacillus stearothermophilus was purified to homogeneity. The enzyme (Mr 175,000) was composed of two subunits of equal size, and showed a Soret band at 406 nm. On reduction with sodium dithionite, absorption at 434 nm and 558 nm was observed. The spectrum of reduced pyridine haemochrome showed peaks at 418, 526 and 557 nm; the reduced minus oxidized spectrum of pyridine haemochrome showed peaks of 418, 524 and 556 nm with a trough at 452 nm. These results indicate that the enzyme contained protohaem IX as a prosthetic group. The optimum pH was about 6 and the apparent optimum temperature was 70 degrees C. The enzyme was relatively stable up to 70 degrees C; at 30 degrees C it was stable for a month. The enzyme had peroxidase activity toward a mixture of 2,4-dichlorophenol and 4-aminoantipyrine with a Km for H2O2 of 1.3 mM. It also acted as a catalase with a Km for H2O2 of 7.5 mM.     

Studies on extracellular and intracellular purified amylases from a thermophilic Bacillus stearothermophilus

Extracellular and intracellular amylases have been purified from a thermophilic Bacillus stearothermophilus and further studies have been made with the purified enzyme. The molecular weights for extra- and intracellular α- and β-amylases were found to be 47 000, 58 000, 39 000 and 67 000, respectively. α-Amylase (1,4-α-d-glucan glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1) and glucoamylase (1,4-α-d-glucan glucohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.3) were glycoproteins, whereas β-amylase (1,4-α-d-glucan maltohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.2) had little or no carbohydrate moiety. Extracellular FI (α-amylase), FIII (glucoamylase), FIV and FV (α-amylase) had carbohydrate moieties of 14.4, 27.0, 11.0 and 12.5%, respectively, whereas intracellular amylases FI (α-amylase), FII (β-amylase) and FIII (α-amylase) contained 15.2, 0.8 and 13.4% carbohydrate, respectively. The amino acid profile of the amylase protein digest showed a total number of 16 amino acids with aspartic acid showing the highest value followed by glutamic acid and leucine plus isoleucine. Compared to other thermostable amylases, proline and histidine contents were low. Both α- and β- amylase had the - SH group at their active site, which was essential for enzyme activity. EDTA and parachloromercuribenzoate exhibited dose dependent non-competitive inhibition of enzyme activity indicating the involvement of a divalent cation and the - SH group for activity.     

Thermostable, Raw-Starch-Digesting Amylase from Bacillus stearothermophilus

An endospore-forming thermophilic bacterium, which produced amylase and was identified as Bacillus stearothermophilus, was isolated from soil. The amylase had an optimum temperature of 70°C and strongly degraded wheat starch granules (93%) and potato starch granules (80%) at 60°C.     

Cloning and Expression of Thermostable alpha-Amylase Gene from Bacillus stearothermophilus in Bacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillus subtilis

The structural gene for a thermostable alpha-amylase from Bacillus stearothermophilus was cloned in plasmids pTB90 and pTB53. It was expressed in both B. stearothermophilus and Bacillus subtilis. B. stearothermophilus carrying the recombinant plasmid produced about fivefold more alpha-amylase (20.9 U/mg of dry cells) than did the wild-type strain of B. stearothermophilus. Some properties of the alpha-amylases that were purified from the transformants of B. stearothermophilus and B. subtilis were examined. No significant differences were observed among the enzyme properties despite the difference in host cells. It was found that the alpha-amylase, with a molecular weight of 53,000, retained about 60% of its activity even after treatment at 80 degrees C for 60 min.     

Cloning and Expression of Thermostable α-Amylase Gene from Bacillus stearothermophilus in Bacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillus subtilis

The structural gene for a thermostable α-amylase from Bacillus stearothermophilus was cloned in plasmids pTB90 and pTB53. It was expressed in both B. stearothermophilus and Bacillus subtilis. B. stearothermophilus carrying the recombinant plasmid produced about fivefold more α-amylase (20.9 U/mg of dry cells) than did the wild-type strain of B. stearothermophilus. Some properties of the α-amylases that were purified from the transformants of B. stearothermophilus and B. subtilis were examined. No significant differences were observed among the enzyme properties despite the difference in host cells. It was found that the α-amylase, with a molecular weight of 53,000, retained about 60% of its activity even after treatment at 80°C for 60 min.     

Thermostable alanine racemase from Bacillus stearothermophilus: molecular cloning of the gene, enzyme purification, and characterization

The alanine racemase (EC 5.1.1.1) gene of a thermophilic bacterium, Bacillus stearothermophilus, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli C600 with vector plasmid pICR301, which was constructed from pBR322 and the L-alanine dehydrogenase gene derived from B. stearothermophilus. A coupled assay method with L-alanine dehydrogenase and tetrazolium salts was used to detect visually the alanine racemase activity in the clones. Alanine racemase overproduced in a clone carrying the plasmid pICR4, 12 kilobases of DNA, was purified from cell extracts about 340-fold to homogeneity by five steps including heat treatment. The overproduced enzyme was confirmed to originate from B. stearothermophilus by an immunochemical cross-reaction with the enzyme of B. stearothermophilus. The purified enzyme has a molecular weight of about 78 000 and consists of two identical subunits of Mr of 39 000. At the optimum temperature (50 degrees C), the enzyme has a specific activity of 1800 units/mg (Vmax, D- to L-alanine). Resolution and reconstitution experiments together with the absorption spectrum of the enzyme clearly indicate that alanine racemase of B. stearothermophilus is a pyridoxal 5'-phosphate enzyme.     

Thermostable polynucleotide phosphorylases from Bacillus stearothermophilus and Thermus aquaticus.

Polynucleotide phosphorylase from Bacillus stearothermophilus has been purified to homogeneity. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis run under denaturing conditions indicates that the enzyme is a tetramer with subunits of apparent molecular weight 51,000 daltons. A partial purification of polynucleotide phosphorylase from Thermus aquaticus has also been effected. The two enzymes show similar catalytic properties, which differ little from those of mesophilic polynucleotide phosphorylases. The use of thermostable polynucleotide phosphorylases for in vitro nucleic acid synthesis is discussed.     

Enhancement of proteolytic enzyme activity excreted from Bacillus stearothermophilus for a thermophilic aerobic digestion process

Proteolysis is one of the main enzymatic reactions involved in waste activated sludge (WAS) digestion. In this study, proteases excreted from Bacillus stearothermophilus (ATCC 31197) were classified, and an enhancement of protease activity was achieved using economical chemical additives for WAS digestion. Proteases excreted from B. stearothermophilus were classified into two families: serine and metallo-proteases. Various metal ions were investigated as additives which could potentially enhance protease activity. It was observed that Ca2+ and Fe2+ could markedly activate these enzymes. These results were applied to thermophilic aerobic digestion (TAD) of industrial WAS using B. stearothermophilus. The addition of these divalent ions enhanced the degradation performance of the TAD process in terms of reducing the total suspended solids (TSSs), the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content, and the intracellular and extracellular protein concentrations. The best result, with respect to protein reduction in a digestion experiment, was obtained by the addition of 2 mM Ca2+. Therefore, a proposed TAD process activated by calcium addition can be successfully used for industrial and municipal WAS digestion to the upgrading of TAD process performance.     

Kinetics of Thermostable Alanine Racemase of Bacillus stearothermophilus

Unlabeled D- and L-alanine were racemized in deuterium oxide with an alanine racemase of Bacillus stearothermophilus at saturated concentration of substrate, and various p²H and temperature. Samples of the solution were taken at intervals, and all alanine isomers in the samples were transformed into a mixture of diastereomeric derivatives of methyl N-(–)-camphanylalaninate. Their ratio was measured on a GC-Mass, and the relative rate was calculated at the initial stage of the reaction. There was little difference in the decrease rate of the optical rotation between the enantiomers. Internal proton-transfer to the antipode was almost zero for either substrate. The α-hydrogen was abstracted 1.2–2.3 times faster from D-alanine than from L-alanine. D-Alanine gave an almost even mixture of deuterium labeled D- and L-alanine, while L-alanine gave a mixture of labeled D- and L-alanine at a ratio of 3:1. These results suggest the racemase builds two different bases in the active site. The base for D-alanine may be closer to the enzyme surface, and that for L-alanine inside.     

Thermostable alanine racemase of Bacillus stearothermophilus. Construction and expression of active fragmentary enzyme

Limited proteolysis studies on alanine racemase suggested that the enzyme subunit is composed of two domains (Galakatos, N. G., and Walsh, C. T. (1987) Biochemistry 26, 8475-8480). We have constructed a mutant gene that tandemly encodes the two polypeptides of the Bacillus stearothermophilus enzyme subunit cleaved at the position corresponding to the predicted hinge region. The mutant gene product purified was shown to be composed of two sets of the two polypeptide fragments and was immunologically identical to the wild-type enzyme. The mutant enzyme, i.e. the fragmentary alanine racemase, was active in both directions of the racemization of alanine. The maximum velocity (Vmax) was about half that of the wild-type enzyme, and the Km value was about double. Absorption and circular dichroism spectra of the fragmentary enzyme were similar to those of the wild-type enzyme. An attempt was made to separately express in Escherichia coli a single polypeptide corresponding to each domain, but no protein reactive with the antibody against the wild-type alanine racemase was produced. Therefore, it is suggested that the two polypeptide fragments can fold into an active structure only when they are co-translated and that they correspond to structural folding units in the parental polypeptide chain.     

Initial-rate studies of a thermophilic glucokinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus.

The initial rates of phosphorylation of glucose catalysed by glucokinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus were measured over a wide range of glucose, MgATP2-, MgADP- and glucose 6-phosphate concentrations. The results of the effects of the inhibitors on the initial rates suggest that the reaction mechanism is essentially the ordered Bi Bi, in which glucose adds to the enzyme before MgATP2- and glucose 6-phosphate is released from the enzyme after the dissociation of MgADP-, and also suggest that the final step in which glucose 6-phosphate is released is irreversible. For many reaction schemes, the rate equations were derived on the basis of the pseudo-steady-state assumption and were used to correlate the experimental rate data. From this result, we concluded that the reaction obeys the ordered mechanism accompanied by the formation of a non-productive ternary complex, glucose-MgADP--enzyme. By using the experimental Dalziel coefficients phi i, some kinetic parameters were evaluated. The enzyme was characterized by the thermal stability and the low Michaelis constant, the values of which were 54 microM for glucose and 32 microM for MgATP2-.     

High Production of Thermostable beta-Galactosidase of Bacillus stearothermophilus in Bacillus subtilis

By cloning the beta-galactosidase gene of Bacillus stearothermophilus IAM11001 (ATCC 8005) into Bacillus subtilis, enzyme production was enhanced 50 times. beta-Galactosidase could be purified to 80% homogeneity by incubating the cell extract of B. subtilis at 70 degrees C for 15 min, followed by centrifugation to remove the denatured proteins. Because of its heat stability and ease of production, beta-galactosidase is suitable for application in industrial processes.     

Thermostable extracellular protease of Bacillus stearothermophilus: factors affecting its production

A strain of protease-producing Bacillus stearothermophilus has been isolated. Glycerol was the best carbon source for production whereas yeast extract was the best nitrogen source. The bacterium could grow up to 70°C but optimum protease production was at 60°C. Best initial pH for protease production was 5. Alkaline pH inhibited production. The enzyme was stable at 60°C for 18 h and was inhibited by EDTA, PMSF and HgCl₂.The authors are with the Enzyme and Microbial Technology Group, Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies, Universiti Pertanian Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia     

Phosphofructokinase: complete amino-acid sequence of the enzyme from Bacillus stearothermophilus

The entire amino acid sequence of the protein subunit of phosphofructokinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus has been established mainly by sequence analysis of cyanogen bromide fragments and of peptides derived from these fragments by further digestion with proteolytic enzymes. Overlaps of the cyanogen bromide fragments as well as peptide sequences necessary to complement and to confirm tentative assignments within the larger peptide fragments were obtained from the sequences of selected peptides isolated from tryptic and chymotryptic digests of the intact S-[14C]-carboxymethylated protein. Sequence information was also provided by automated sequence analysis of the intact protein subunit and of some of the larger peptide fragments. The sequence is as follows: (See Text).     

Thermostable alanine racemase of Bacillus stearothermophilus: subunit dissociation and unfolding.

The guanidine hydrochloride-induced subunit dissociation and unfolding of thermostable alanine racemase from Bacillus stearothermophilus have been studied by circular dichroism, fluorescence and absorption spectroscopies, and gel filtration. The overall process was found to be reversible: more than 75% of the original activity was recovered upon reduction of the denaturant concentration. In the range of 0.6 to 1.5 M guanidine hydrochloride, the dimeric enzyme was dissociated into a monomeric form, which was catalytically inactive. The monomeric enzyme appeared to bind the cofactor pyridoxal phosphate by a non-covalent linkage, although the native dimeric enzyme binds the cofactor through an aldimine Schiff base linkage. The monomer was mostly unfolded, with the transition occurring in the range of 1.8 to 2.2 M guanidine hydrochloride.     

Thermostable dipeptidase from Bacillus stearothermophilus: its purification, characterization, and comparison with aminoacylase

Dipeptidase (dipeptide hydrolase [EC 3.4.13.11]) has been purified to homogeneity and crystallized from the cell extract of Bacillus stearothermophilus IFO 12983. The enzyme has a molecular weight of about 86,000, and is composed of two subunits identical in molecular weight (43,000). The enzyme contains 2 g atoms of zinc per mol of protein. A variety of dipeptides consisting of glycine or only L-amino acids serve as substrates of the enzyme; Km and Vmax values for L-valyl-L-alanine are 0.5 mM and 68.0 units/mg protein, respectively. The enzyme is significantly stable not only at high temperatures but also on treatment with protein denaturants such as urea and guanidine hydrochloride. The enzyme also catalyzes hydrolysis of several N-acylamino acids with Vmax values 3-30% of those for the hydrolysis of dipeptides. The thermostable dipeptidase shares various properties with bacterial aminoacylase [EC 3.5.1.14]: their subunit molecular weight, metal content and requirement, amino acid composition, and amino acid sequence in the N-terminal region are very similar.