Investigation of permolecular structure of lipase from <Emphasis Type=Italic>Rhizopus niveus</Emphasis>

It has been shown by classical biophysical and biochemical methods in combination with atomic microscopy that lipase from Rhizopus niveus exists in a water solution as a dimer with a molecular weight of 96 kDa. The rate of splitting of triglycerides by a dimeric molecules is twice that of monomers. The heat stability of the monomeric form of lipase at temperatures of 20–60°C is significantly higher than that of the native molecule.     

Primary structure of a base non-specific ribonuclease from Rhizopus niveus

The primary structure of a base non-specific ribonuclease from Rhizopus niveus (RNase Rh) was determined by nucleotide sequence analysis of the DNA fragment encoding RNase Rh gene including signal peptide sequence, and amino acid sequence analysis of the peptide obtained from RNase Rh and RNase Rh' (a protease-modified RNase Rh created during the course of purification). The sequence determined was: MKAVLALATLIGSTLASSCSSTA LSCSNSANSDTCCSPEYGLVVLNMQWAPGYGPANAFTLHGLWPDKCSGAYAPSGGCDSN RASSSIASVIKSKDSSLYNSMLTYWPSNQGNNNVFWSHEWSKHGTCVSTYDPDCYDNYE EGEDIVDYFQKAMDLRSQYNVYKAFSSNGITPGGTYTATEMQSAIESYFGAKAKIDCSSG TLSDVALYFYVRGRDTYVITDALSTGSCSGDVEYPTK (the sequence of signal peptide is underlined). The sequence indicates that the homology with the sequence of RNase T2 from A. oryzae with the same base specificity is about 42% and that the sequences around the two histidine residues which are supposed to be involved in the active site are fairly conserved.     

Cloning and sequence analysis of cDNA encoding Rhizopus niveus lipase.

Complementary DNA encoding Rhizopus niveus lipase (RNL) was isolated from the R. niveus IF04759 cDNA library using a synthetic oligonucleotide corresponding to the amino acid sequence of the enzyme. A clone, which had an insert of 1.0 kilobase pairs, was found to contain the coding region of the enzyme. The lipase gene was expressed in Escherichia coli as a lacZ fusion protein. The mature RNL consisted of 297 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 32 kDa. The RNL sequence showed significant overall homology to Rhizomucor miehei lipase and the putative active site residues were strictly conserved.     

Thermal stability of Rhizopus niveus lipase expressed in a kex2 mutant yeast

Lipase from Rhizopus niveus (RNL) has a complex structure, and recombinant RNL, has even more complex structural properties in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These properties are due to the processing and to the size of the glycosylated sugar chain. The processing site was presumed to be that for the proteinase product of the KEX2 gene in yeast. We therefore, constructed an expression system in which the KEX2 gene was disrupted to produce a non-processed type of lipase with high thermal stability. This type of lipase was thermally stable to a temperature 15 degrees C higher than that of each processed type of lipase. This non-processed lipase had 50% residual activity after 2 h at 50 degrees C, while the residual activity of the processed lipases was only 10% after 30-45 min of incubation at 50 degrees C. The CD spectrum of the non-processed type of lipase at 222 nm was almost unchanged by heating, suggesting that this group of lipases had a very rigid structure and that the peptide bond between the A- and B-chain contributed to maintain this rigid structure. On the other hand, the length of the sugar chain bound to the lipase had no effect on the thermal stability.     

Primary structure of an N-linked sugar chain derived from glucoamylase of Rhizopus niveus

The primary structure of the N-linked sugar chain of Rhizopus niveus glucoamylase (major component) was investigated. The carbohydrate moiety was released from the polypeptide backbone by Flavobacterium sp. endo-beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase digestion. Studies using the method of exoglycosidase digestion of the fluorescent pyridylamino derivative, gel-permeation chromatography on Bio-Gel P-4 and 400-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy revealed that the most abundant structure is (Man)8-GlcNac-ol.     

Crystallization of a new class of microbial ribonuclease from Rhizopus niveus

Crystals of ribonuclease Rh, a new class of microbial ribonuclease from Rhizopus niveus, were obtained from polyethylene glycol 8000 solution by a vapour diffusion technique in the hanging drop mode. Two crystal forms, type I and type II, were obtained from the same droplet solution. Both forms belong to the space group P2(1)2(1)2(1), but their cell dimensions are markedly different: a = 68.3 A, b = 73.0 A, c = 50.0 A for type I and a = 67.5 A, b = 72.3 A, c = 44.2 A for type II. The type I crystals diffract beyond 2.0 A resolution and are suitable for X-ray structure analysis at high resolution.     

Improvement of the optimum temperature of lipase activity for Rhizopus niveus by random mutagenesis and its structural interpretation

Random mutagenesis was used to improve the optimum temperature for Rhizopus niveus lipase (RNL) activity. The lipase gene was mutated using the error-prone PCR technique. One desirable mutant was isolated, and three amino acids were substituted in this mutant (P18H, A36T and E218V). The wild-type and this randomly mutated lipase were both purified and characterized. The specific activity of the mutant lipase was 80% that of the wild-type. The optimum temperature of the mutant lipase was higher by 15 degrees C than that of the wild-type. To confirm which substitution contributed to enhancing the optimum temperature for enzymic activity, two chimeric lipases from the wild-type and randomly mutated gene were constructed: chimeric lipase 1 (CL-1; P18H and A36T) and chimeric lipase 2 (CL-2; E218V). Each of the chimeric enzymes was purified, and the optimum temperature for lipase activity was measured. CL-1 had a similar optimum temperature to that of the wild-type, and CL-2 had a higher temperature like the randomly mutated lipase. The mutational effect is interpreted in terms of a three-dimensional structure for the wild-type lipase.     

Comparison of the properties of glucoamylases from Rhizopus niveus and Aspergillus niger

Some properties of the glucoamylase from Rhizopus niveus have been determined and compared with the comparable properties of the glucoamylase from Aspergillus niger. The enzymes from these organisms possess the following common properties: quantitative conversion of starch to glucose, molecular weights in the range 95,500 to 97,500, and glycoprotein structures with many oligosaccharide side chains attached to the protein moieties of the enzymes. Differences in the glucoamylases exist in electrophoretic mobility, amino acid composition, nature of carbohydrate units, and types of glycosidic linkages. Lysine, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, tyrosine, and phenylalanine differ in the two glucoamylases by 25 to 50%. Whereas the enzyme from R. niveus contains mannose and glucosamine, in the N-acetyl form, as the carbohydrate constituents, the enzyme from A. niger contains mannose, glucose, and galactose. The carbohydrate chains of the R. niveus enzyme are linked by O-glycosidic and N-glycosidic linkages to the protein, while those of the A. niger enzyme are linked by O-glycosidic linkages only. Antibodies directed against the two glucosamylases have been isolated by affinity chromatography and found to be specific for the carbohydrate units of the glucoamylases. Cross reactions did not occur between the glucoamylases and the purified antibodies.     

High-level expression of Rhizopus niveus lipase in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and structural properties of the expressed enzyme

Rhizopus niveus lipase (RNL) has a unique structure consisting of two noncovalently bound polypeptides (A-chain and B-chain). To improve this enzyme's properties by protein engineering, we have developed a new expression system for the production of recombinant lipase in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. For the present study, we developed a more efficient expression system using the strain ND-12B and the multicopy-type plasmid pJDB219. We purified two types of recombinant lipases, each to a single peak by gel-filtration HPLC, although they were found to be heterogeneous by SDS-PAGE. Analysis of reversed-phase HPLC, N-terminal amino acid sequence, and sugar content showed that the difference between the two types of lipases was due mainly to their sugar content (high or low mannose type). Moreover, there were two species within each type of lipase. One kind was processed to the A-chain and B-chain as in the native lipase, while the other remained unprocessed. Although these yeast-purified lipases contained several posttranslational modifications and different glycosylations, their secondary structures were the same as those of the native lipase as measured by circular dichroism spectra and determination of disulfide bonding. This suggests that protein folding of the recombinant lipase occurred correctly in yeast.     

Crystal and molecular structure of RNase Rh, a new class of microbial ribonuclease from Rhizopus niveus.

The crystal structure of RNase Rh, a new class of microbial ribonuclease from Rhizopus niveus, has been determined at 2.5 A resolution by the multiple isomorphous replacement method. The crystal structure was refined by simulated annealing with molecular dynamics. The current crystallographic R-factor is 0.200 in the 10-2.5 A resolution range. The molecular structure which is completely different from the known structures of RNase A and RNase T1 consists of six alpha-helices and seven beta-strands, belonging to the alpha+beta type structure. Two histidine and one glutamic acid residues which were predicted as the most probably functional residues by chemical modification studies are found to be clustered. The steric nature of the active site taken together with the relevant site-directed mutagenesis experiments (Irie et al.) indicates that: (i) the two histidine residues are the general acid and base; and (ii) an aspartic acid residue plays a role of recognizing adenine moiety of the substrate.     

壳聚糖固定化德氏根霉脂肪酶的研究

研究了壳聚糖吸附和戊二醛交联对脂肪酶固定化条件,在室温条件下将0．4g酶粉溶于pH6．0缓冲液中,加入10g壳聚糖,摇匀,再加入浓度为0．6％戊二醛交联6h,得到固定化酶,酶活力回收率约为54．2％。固定化酶的半失活温度比游离酶的高,半失活温度由游离酶的47℃提高到100℃,最适反应温度由40℃上升至80℃,最适pH由6下降到5．5,固定化酶K’m值由游离酶的Km 50mg／mL增加到56mg／mL。该固定化脂肪酶用于酯的合成;在80℃条件下经过10批次连续水解植物油反应,固定化酶的活力仍保持在82．6％以上。     

Enzymatic properties of phenylalanine101 mutant enzyme of ribonuclease rh from Rhizopus niveus

To investigate the role of Phe101, a component of a base recognition site (B2 site) of a base-nonspecific RNase Rh from Rhizopus niveus, we prepared several enzymes mutated at this position, F101W, F101L, F101I, F101A, F101Q, F101R, and F101K, and their enzymatic activities towards RNA, 16 dinucleoside phosphates, and 2', 3'-cyclic pyrimidine nucleotides were measured. Enzymatic activity toward RNA of F101W, F101L, and F101I were about 7, 20, and 3.8% of the native enzyme, respectively, and those of the other mutants were less than 1% of the RNase Rh. Similar results were also obtained with GpG as substrate. Thus, it was concluded that Phe101 is a very important residue as a component of the B2 site of RNase Rh, and its role could be replaced by Leu, then Trp and Ile, though in less effectively. The results suggested that some kind of interaction between B2 base and the side chain of amino acid residue at the 101th position, such as pi/pi or CH/pi interaction is very important for the enzymatic activity of RNase Rh. The mutation of Phe101 markedly affected the enzymatic activity toward dinucleoside phosphates and polymer substrates, but only moderately the rate of hydrolysis of cyclic nucleotides, indicating the presence of secondary effect of the mutation on B1 site.     

Purification,Characterization, and Crystallization of Two Types of Lipase from Rhizopus niveus

The purification and some properties of two types of lipase (Lipase I and Lipase II) from Rhizopus niveus are described. The enzymes were purified to homogeneity by column chromatographies on DEAE-Toyopearl (1 pass) and CM-Toyopearl (2 passes). Lipase I consists of two polypeptide chains [a small peptide with sugar moiety (A-chain) and a large peptide of molecular weight 34,000 (B-chain)]. Lipase II has a molecular weight of 30,000 consisting of a single polypeptide chain. Lipase I appeared to be converted to Lipase II by limited proteolysis by a specific protease a small amount of which is in the culture supernatant from Rh. niveus, because one of the peptides formed has the same N-terminal sequence and C-terminal amino acid as Lipase II, as well as the molecular mass estimated by SDS-PAGE. Lipase I had a pH optimum of 6.0–6.5 and a temperature optimum of 35°C, while, for Lipase II these values were pH 6.0 and 40°C. Both enzymes were obtained in the crystalline state using the hanging drop method of vapor diffusion and PEG as the precipitating agents.     

Cloning and Sequence Analysis of cDNA encoding Rhizopus niveus Lipase

Complementary DNA encoding Rhizopus niveus lipase (RNL) was isolated from the R. niveus IF04759 cDNA library using a synthetic oligonucleotide corresponding to the amino acid sequence of the enzyme. A clone, which had an insert of 1.0 kilobase pairs, was found to contain the coding region of the enzyme. The lipase gene was expressed in Escherichia coli as a lacZ fusion protein. The mature RNL consisted of 297 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 32 kDa. The RNL sequence showed significant overall homology to Rhizomucor miehei lipase and the putative active site residues were strictly conserved.     

华根霉产脂肪酶发酵培养基的研究

我对摇瓶培养基存在的豆饼粉含量较高,发酵过程中产生大量泡沫,放大困难的问题,在用华根霉发酵生产脂肪酶中,以豆饼粉－蛋白胨培养基为出发培养基,经优化后的培养基组成为：工业蛋白胨６％,豆饼粉２％,卵磷脂１％,葡萄糖１％,磷酸氢二 酸镁０．０５％。与优化前相比,不仅减少了发酵过程中产生的泡沫,有利于大罐发罐,而且减少了豆饼粉残留,酶活提高１０％。     

Expression of RNase Rh from Rhizopus niveus in yeast and characterization of the secreted proteins.

The full-length cDNA encoding RNase Rh, which is secreted extracellularly by Rhizopus niveus, was isolated and its nucleotide sequence was determined. It was placed under control of the promoter of the glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a high expression vector in yeast. Since yeast cells transformed by this plasmid poorly secreted RNase into the medium, the plasmid pYE RNAP-Rh was constructed, in which the signal sequence of RNase Rh was replaced by the prepro-sequence of aspartic proteinase-I, one of the extracellular enzymes secreted by R. niveus. Yeast cells harboring pYE RNAP-Rh produced RNase efficiently (ca. 40 micrograms/ml) into the medium. The product was a mixture of six enzymes (RNase RNAP-Rhs) having 3, 5, 9, 13, 14, and 16 additional amino acid residues attached to the amino terminus of the mature RNase Rh. The major product was the RNase with three additional amino acids at the amino terminus. Limited digestion of RNase RNAP-Rhs with staphylococcal V8 protease succeeded in shortening the various lengths of extra amino acid residues attached to the amino terminus of RNase Rh, yielding an RNase that has 3 additional amino acids at the amino terminus. It has been named RNase RNAP-Rh. The RNase RNAP-Rh showed the same specific activity and CD spectra as those of RNase Rh, suggesting that the two have similar conformations to each other around aromatic amino acid residues and the peptide backbone.     

Hydrolysis of plant oils by means of lipase from Rhizopus nigricans

The crude enzyme powder from Rhizopus nigricans was immobilized by sorption and subsequent cross-linking with glutaraldehyde on collagen and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes. Lipolytic membranes were applied to plant oils hydrolysis. The comparison of the two types of membranes by calculating the time required to obtain 1 mole of free fatty acids (FFA) from 1 m² of membrane area, indicates that hydrophobic PTFE membrane is a better one in spite of the fact that the amount of protein sorbed on PTFE membrane is about three times smaller than that for collagen membrane. The hydrolysis of sunflower oil was the most efficient at the temperature of 37 °C and a pH of 7. At these conditions the specific activity after immobilization was about four times higher than that of the soluble enzyme.     

Isolation and sequencing of a genomic clone encoding aspartic proteinase of Rhizopus niveus.

A gene encoding Rhizopus niveus aspartic proteinase was isolated from an R. niveus genomic library by using oligonucleotides probes corresponding to its partial amino acid sequence, and its nucleotide sequence was determined. By comparing its deduced amino acid sequence with the amino acid sequence of rhizopuspepsin (5, 26), we concluded that the R. niveus aspartic proteinase gene has an intron within its coding region and that it has a preproenzyme sequence of 66 amino acids upstream of the mature enzyme of 323 amino acids.