Directed evolution of Thermus maltogenic amylase toward enhanced thermal resistance

The thermostability of maltogenic amylase from Thermus sp. strain IM6501 (ThMA) was improved greatly by random mutagenesis using DNA shuffling. Four rounds of DNA shuffling and subsequent recombination of the mutations produced the highly thermostable mutant enzyme ThMA-DM, which had a total of seven individual mutations. The seven amino acid substitutions in ThMA-DM were identified as R26Q, S169N, I333V, M375T, A398V, Q411L, and P453L. The optimal reaction temperature of the recombinant enzyme was 75 degrees C, which was 15 degrees C higher than that of wild-type ThMA, and the melting temperature, as determined by differential scanning calorimetry, was increased by 10.9 degrees C. The half-life of ThMA-DM was 172 min at 80 degrees C, a temperature at which wild-type ThMA was completely inactivated in less than 1 min. Six mutations that were generated during the evolutionary process did not significantly affect the specific activity of the enzyme, while the M375T mutation decreased activity to 23% of the wild-type level. The molecular interactions of the seven mutant residues that contributed to the increased thermostability of the mutant enzyme with other adjacent residues were examined by comparing the modeled tertiary structure of ThMA-DM with those of wild-type ThMA and related enzymes. The A398V and Q411L substitutions appeared to stabilize the enzyme by enhancing the interdomain hydrophobic interactions. The R26Q and P453L substitutions led potentially to the formation of genuine hydrogen bonds. M375T, which was located near the active site of ThMA, probably caused a conformational or dynamic change that enhanced thermostability but reduced the specific activity of the enzyme.     

Role of proline residues in conferring thermostability on aqualysin I

To understand the molecular basis of the thermostability of a thermophilic serine protease aqualysin I from Thermus aquaticus YT-1, we introduced mutations at Pro5, Pro7, Pro240 and Pro268, which are located on the surface loops of aqualysin I, by changing these amino acid residues into those found at the corresponding locations in VPR, a psychrophilic serine protease from Vibrio sp. PA-44. All mutants were expressed stably and exhibited essentially the same specific activity as wild-type aqualysin I at 40 degrees C. The P240N mutant protein had similar thermostability to wild-type aqualysin I, but P5N and P268T showed lower thermostability, with a half-life at 90 degrees C of 15 and 30 min, respectively, as compared to 45 min for the wild-type enzyme. The thermostability of P7I was decreased even more markedly, and the mutant protein was rapidly inactivated at 80 degrees C and even at 70 degrees C, with half-lives of 10 and 60 min, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed that the transition temperatures of wild-type enzyme, P5N, P7I, P240N and P268T were 93.99 degrees C, 83.45 degrees C, 75.66 degrees C, 91.78 degrees C and 86.49 degrees C, respectively. These results underscore the importance of the proline residues in the N- and C-terminal regions of aqualysin I in maintaining the integrity of the overall protein structure at elevated temperatures.     

Directed Evolution of Thermus Maltogenic Amylase toward Enhanced Thermal Resistance

The thermostability of maltogenic amylase from Thermus sp. strain IM6501 (ThMA) was improved greatly by random mutagenesis using DNA shuffling. Four rounds of DNA shuffling and subsequent recombination of the mutations produced the highly thermostable mutant enzyme ThMA-DM, which had a total of seven individual mutations. The seven amino acid substitutions in ThMA-DM were identified as R26Q, S169N, I333V, M375T, A398V, Q411L, and P453L. The optimal reaction temperature of the recombinant enzyme was 75°C, which was 15°C higher than that of wild-type ThMA, and the melting temperature, as determined by differential scanning calorimetry, was increased by 10.9°C. The half-life of ThMA-DM was 172 min at 80°C, a temperature at which wild-type ThMA was completely inactivated in less than 1 min. Six mutations that were generated during the evolutionary process did not significantly affect the specific activity of the enzyme, while the M375T mutation decreased activity to 23% of the wild-type level. The molecular interactions of the seven mutant residues that contributed to the increased thermostability of the mutant enzyme with other adjacent residues were examined by comparing the modeled tertiary structure of ThMA-DM with those of wild-type ThMA and related enzymes. The A398V and Q411L substitutions appeared to stabilize the enzyme by enhancing the interdomain hydrophobic interactions. The R26Q and P453L substitutions led potentially to the formation of genuine hydrogen bonds. M375T, which was located near the active site of ThMA, probably caused a conformational or dynamic change that enhanced thermostability but reduced the specific activity of the enzyme.     

Significantly enhanced stability of glucose dehydrogenase by directed evolution

An NaCl-independent stability-enhanced mutant of glucose dehydrogenase (GlcDH) was obtained by using in vitro directed evolution. The family shuffling method was applied for in vitro directed evolution to construct a mutant library of GlcDH genes. Three GlcDH-coding genes from Bacillus licheniformis IFO 12200, Bacillus megaterium IFO 15308 and Bacillus subtilis IFO 13719 were each cloned by direct PCR amplification into the p Trc99A expression vector and expressed in the host, Escherichia coli. In addition to these three GlcDH genes, a gene encoding a previously obtained GlcDH mutant, F20 (Q252L), derived from B. megaterium IWG3, was also subjected to directed evolution by the family shuffling method. A highly thermostable mutant, GlcDH DN-46, was isolated in the presence or absence of NaCl after the second round of family shuffling and filter-based screening of the mutant libraries. This mutant had only one novel additional amino acid residue exchange (E170K) compared to F20, even though DN-46 was obtained by family shuffling of four different GlcDH genes. The effect of temperature and pH on the stability of the GlcDH mutants F20 and DN46 was investigated with purified enzymes in the presence or absence of NaCl. In the absence of NaCl, F20 showed very poor thermostability (half-life =1.3 min at 66 degrees C), while the half-life of isolated mutant DN-46 was 540 min at 66 degrees C, i.e., 415-fold more thermostable than mutant F20. The activity of the wild-type and F20 enzymes dropped critically when the pH value was changed to the alkaline range in the absence of NaCl, but no such decrease was apparent with the DN-46 enzyme in the absence of NaCl.     

Directed evolution converts subtilisin E into a functional equivalent of thermitase

We used directed evolution to convert Bacillus subtilis subtilisin E into an enzyme functionally equivalent to its thermophilic homolog thermitase from Thermoactinomyces vulgaris. Five generations of random mutagenesis, recombination and screening created subtilisin E 5-3H5, whose half-life at 83 degrees C (3.5 min) and temperature optimum for activity (Topt, 76 degrees C) are identical with those of thermitase. The Topt of the evolved enzyme is 17 degrees C higher and its half-life at 65 degrees C is >200 times that of wild-type subtilisin E. In addition, 5-3H5 is more active towards the hydrolysis of succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide than wild-type at all temperatures from 10 to 90 degrees C. Thermitase differs from subtilisin E at 157 amino acid positions. However, only eight amino acid substitutions were sufficient to convert subtilisin E into an enzyme equally thermostable. The eight substitutions, which include known stabilizing mutations (N218S, N76D) and also several not previously reported, are distributed over the surface of the enzyme. Only two (N218S, N181D) are found in thermitase. Directed evolution provides a powerful tool to unveil mechanisms of thermal adaptation and is an effective and efficient approach to increasing thermostability without compromising enzyme activity.     

Directed evolution of the thermostable xylanase from Thermomyces lanuginosus

The thermostability of the endo-beta-1,4-xylanase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (xynA) was improved by directed evolution using error-prone PCR. Transformants expressing the variant xylanases were first selected on 0.4% Remazol Brilliant Blue-xylan and then exposed to 80 degrees C. Whereas the wild type XynA lost 90% activity after 10 min at 80 degrees C, five mutants displayed both higher stabilities and activities than XynA. Four mutants were subjected to further mutagenesis to improve the stability and activity of the xylanase. Subsequent screening revealed three mutants with enhanced thermostability. Mutant 2B7-10 retained 71% of its activity after treatment at 80 degrees C for 60 min and had a half-life of 215 min at 70 degrees C, which is higher than that attained by XynA. Sequence analysis of second generation mutants revealed that mutations were not concentrated in any particular region of the protein and exhibited much variation. The best mutant obtained from this study was variant 2B7-10, which had a single substitution (Y58F) in beta-sheet A of the protein, which is the hydrophilic, solvent-accessible outer surface of the enzyme. Most of the mutants obtained in this study displayed a compromise between stability and activity, the only exception being mutant 2B7-10. This variant showed increased activity and thermostability.     

Engineered glucose isomerase from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces</Emphasis> sp. SK is resistant to Ca<Superscript>2+</Superscript> inhibition and Co<Superscript>2+</Superscript> independent

The role of two amino acid residues linked to the two catalytic histidines His54 and His220 in kinetics and physicochemical properties of the Streptomyces sp. SK glucose isomerase (SKGI) was investigated by site-directed mutagenesis and molecular modeling. Two single mutations, F53L and G219D, and a double mutation F53L/G219D was introduced into the xylA SKGI gene. The F53L mutation increases the thermostability and the catalytic efficiency and also slightly shifts the optimum pH from 6.5 to 7, but displays a profile being similar to that of the wild-type enzyme concerning the effect of various metal ions. The G219D mutant is resistant to calcium inhibition retaining about 80% of its residual activity in 10 mM Ca²⁺ instead of 10% for the wild-type. This variant is activated by Mn²⁺ ions, but not Co²⁺, as seen for the wild-type enzyme. It does not require the latter for its thermostability, but has its half-life time displaced from 50 to 20 min at 85°C. The double mutation F53L/G219D restores the thermostability as seen for the wild-type enzyme while maintaining the resistance to the calcium inhibition. Molecular modeling suggests that the increase in thermostability is due to new hydrophobic interactions stabilizing α2 helix and that the resistance to calcium inhibition is a result of narrowing the binding site of catalytic ion.     

Cumulative effect of amino acid replacements results in enhanced thermostability of potato type L alpha-glucan phosphorylase

The thermostability of potato type L alpha-glucan phosphorylase (EC 2.4.1.1) was enhanced by random and site-directed mutagenesis. We obtained three single-residue mutations-Phe39-->Leu (F39L), Asn135-->Ser (N135S), and Thr706-->Ile (T706I)-by random mutagenesis. Although the wild-type enzyme was completely inactivated, these mutant enzymes retained their activity even after heat treatment at 60 degrees C for 2 h. Combinations of these mutations were introduced by site-directed mutagenesis. The simultaneous mutation of two (F39L/N135S, F39L/T706I, and N135S/T706I) or three (F39L/N135S/T706I) residues further increased the thermostability of the enzyme, indicating that the effect of the replacement of the residues was cumulative. The triple-mutant enzyme, F39L/N135S/T706I, retained 50% of its original activity after heat treatment at 65 degrees C for 20 min. Further analysis indicated that enzymes with a F39L or T706I mutation were resistant to possible proteolytic degradation.     

Structural perturbation and compensation by directed evolution at physiological temperature leads to thermostabilization of beta-lactamase

The choice of protein for use in technical and medical applications is limited by stability issues, making understanding and engineering of stability key. Here, enzyme destabilization by truncation was combined with directed evolution to create stable variants of TEM-1 beta-lactamase. This enzyme was chosen because of its implication in prodrug activation therapy, pathogen resistance to lactam antibiotics, and reporter enzyme bioassays. Removal of five N-terminal residues generated a mutant which did not confer antibiotic resistance at 37 degrees C. Accordingly, the half-life time in vitro was only 7 s at 40 degrees C. However, three cycles comprising random mutagenesis, DNA shuffling, and metabolic selection at 37 degrees C yielded mutants providing resistance levels significantly higher than that of the wild type. These mutants demonstrated increased thermoactivity and thermostability in time-resolved kinetics at various temperatures. Chemical denaturation revealed improved thermodynamic stabilities of a three-state unfolding pathway exceeding wild-type construct stability. Elongation of one optimized deletion mutant to full length increased its stability even further. Compared to that of the wild type, the temperature optimum was shifted from 35 to 50 degrees C, and the beginning of heat inactivation increased by 20 degrees C while full activity at low temperatures was maintained. We attribute these effects mainly to two independently acting boundary interface residue exchanges (M182T and A224V). Structural perturbation by terminal truncation, evolutionary compensation at physiological temperatures, and elongation is an efficient way to analyze and improve thermostability without the need for high-temperature selection, structural information, or homologous proteins.     

Improvement of oxidative and thermostability of N-carbamyl-d-amino Acid amidohydrolase by directed evolution

N-Carbamyl-D-amino acid amidohydrolase (N-carbamoylase), which is currently employed in the industrial production of unnatural D-amino acid in conjunction with D-hydantoinase, has low oxidative and thermostability. We attempted the simultaneous improvement of the oxidative and thermostability of N-carbamoylase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens NRRL B11291 by directed evolution using DNA shuffling. In a second generation of evolution, the best mutant 2S3 with improved oxidative and thermostability was selected, purified and characterized. The temperature at which 50% of the initial activity remains after incubation for 30 min was 73 degrees C for 2S3, whereas it was 61 degrees C for wild-type enzyme. Treatment of wild-type enzyme with 0.2 mM hydrogen peroxide for 30 min at 25 degrees C resulted in a complete loss of activity, but 2S3 retained about 79% of the initial activity under the same conditions. The K(m) value of 2S3 was estimated to be similar to that of wild-type enzyme; however k(cat) was decreased, leading to a slightly reduced value of k(cat)/K(m), compared with wild-type enzyme. DNA sequence analysis revealed that six amino acid residues were changed in 2S3 and substitutions included Q23L, V40A, H58Y, G75S, M184L and T262A. The stabilizing effects of each amino acid residue were investigated by incorporating mutations individually into wild-type enzyme. Q23L, H58Y, M184L and T262A were found to enhance both oxidative and thermostability of the enzyme and of them, T262A showed the most significant effect. V40A and G75S gave rise to an increase only in oxidative stability. The positions of the mutated amino acid residues were identified in the structure of N-carbamoylase from Agrobacterium sp. KNK 712 and structural analysis of the stabilizing effects of each amino acid substitution was also carried out.     

Directed evolution study of temperature adaptation in a psychrophilic enzyme

We have used laboratory evolution methods to enhance the thermostability and activity of the psychrophilic protease subtilisin S41, with the goal of investigating the mechanisms by which this enzyme can adapt to different selection pressures. A combined strategy of random mutagenesis, saturation mutagenesis and in vitro recombination (DNA shuffling) was used to generate mutant libraries, which were screened to identify enzymes that acquired greater thermostability without sacrificing low-temperature activity. The half-life of seven-amino acid substitution variant 3-2G7 at 60 degrees C is approximately 500 times that of wild-type and far surpasses those of homologous mesophilic subtilisins. The dependence of half-life on calcium concentration indicates that enhanced calcium binding is largely responsible for the increased stability. The temperature optimum of the activity of 3-2G7 is shifted upward by approximately 10 degrees C. Unlike natural thermophilic enzymes, however, the activity of 3-2G7 at low temperatures was not compromised. The catalytic efficiency, k(cat)/K(M), was enhanced approximately threefold over a wide temperature range (10 to 60 degrees C). The activation energy for catalysis, determined by the temperature dependence of k(cat)/K(M) in the range 15 to 35 degrees C, is nearly identical to wild-type and close to half that of its highly similar mesophilic homolog, subtilisin SSII, indicating that the evolved S41 enzyme retained its psychrophilic character in spite of its dramatically increased thermostability. These results demonstrate that it is possible to increase activity at low temperatures and stability at high temperatures simultaneously. The fact that enzymes displaying both properties are not found in nature most likely reflects the effects of evolution, rather than any intrinsic physical-chemical limitations on proteins.     

Increasing the thermal stability of an oligomeric protein, beta-glucuronidase.

The reporter enzyme beta-glucuronidase was mutagenized and evolved for thermostability. After four cycles of screening the best variant was more active than the wild-type enzyme, and retained function at 70 degrees C, whereas the wild-type enzyme lost function at 65 degrees C. Variants derived from sequential mutagenesis were shuffled together, and re-screened for thermostability. The best variants retained activities at even higher temperatures (80 degrees C), but had specific activities that were now less than that of the wild-type enzyme. The mutations clustered near the tetramer interface of the enzyme, and many of the evolved variants showed much greater resistance to quaternary structure disruption at high temperatures, which is also a characteristic of naturally thermostable enzymes. Together, these results suggest a pathway for the evolution of thermostability in which enzymes initially become stable at high temperatures without loss of activity at low temperatures, while further evolution leads to enzymes that have kinetic parameters that are optimized for high temperatures.     

A new approach for weed control in a cucurbit field employing an attenuated potyvirus-vector for herbicide resistance

Thermal stability and other functional properties of Trichoderma reesei endo-1,4-beta-xylanase II (XYNII; family 11) were studied by designed mutations. Mutations at three positions were introduced to the XYNII mutant containing a disulfide bridge (S110C-N154C) in the alpha-helix. The disulfide bridge increased the half-life of XYNII from less than 1 min to 14 min at 65 degrees C. An additional mutation at the C-terminus of the alpha-helix (Q162H or Q162Y) increased the half-life to 63 min. Mutations Q162H and Q162Y alone had a stabilizing effect at 55 degrees C but not at 65 degrees C. The mutations N11D and N38E increased the half-life to about 100 min. Due to the stabilizing mutations the pH stability increased in a wide pH range, but at the same time the activity decreased both in acidic and neutral-alkaline pH, the pH optimum being at pH region 5-6. There was no essential difference between the specific activities of the mutants and the wild-type XYNII.     

Thermal stable and oxidation-resistant variant of subtilisin E

A remarkable thermal stable and oxidation-resistant mutant was obtained using the random mutagenesis PCR technique on the mutant M222A gene of subtilisin E. Sequencing analysis revealed an A was replaced by G at nucleotide 671 of the subtilisin E gene, converting the asparagine codon (AAT) to serine codon (AGT) at position 118. The half-life of M222A/N118S enzyme activity, when heated at 65 degrees C, was approximately 80 min while the half-life of M222A and wild-type subtilisin E were 13 min and 15 min, respectively. This suggested the stability of the M222A/N118S mutant was five times greater than that of the wild-type enzyme. The mutant was also as oxidation resistant as the mutant M222A of subtilisin E. These results indicated the M222A/N118S mutant is both an oxidation-resistant and a heat-stable variant of subtilisin E.     

Thermal stabilization of Bacillus subtilis family-11 xylanase by directed evolution

We used directed evolution to enhance the thermostability of glycosyl hydrolase family-11 xylanase from Bacillus subtilis. By combining random point mutagenesis, saturation mutagenesis, and DNA shuffling, a thermostable variant, Xyl(st), was identified which contained three amino acid substitutions: Q7H, N8F, and S179C. The half-inactivation temperature (the midpoint of the melting curves) for the Xyl(st) variant compared with the wild-type enzyme after incubation for 10 min was elevated from 58 to 68 degrees C. At 60 degrees C the wild-type enzyme was inactivated within 5 min, but Xyl(st) retained full activity for at least 2 h. The stabilization was accompanied by evidence of thermophilicity; that is, an increase in the optimal reaction temperature from 55 to 65 degrees C and lower activity at low temperatures and higher activity at higher temperatures relative to wild type. To elucidate the mechanism of thermal stabilization, three-dimensional structures were determined for the wild-type and Xyl(st) enzymes. A cavity was identified around Gln-7/Asn-8 in wild type that was filled with bulky, hydrophobic residues in Xyl(st). This site was not identified by previous approaches, but directed evolution identified the region as a weak point. Formation of an intermolecular disulfide bridge via Cys-179 was observed between monomers in Xyl(st). However, the stability was essentially the same in the presence and absence of a reducing agent, indicating that the increased hydrophobicity around the Cys-179 accounted for the stability.     

Engineering the thermostability of<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Trichoderma reesei</Emphasis> endo-1,4-β-xylanase II by combination of disulphide bridges

Disulphide bridges were introduced in different combinations into the N-terminal region and the single -helix of mesophilic Trichoderma reesei xylanase II (TRX II). We used earlier disulphide-bridge data and designed new disulphide bridges for the combination mutants. The most stable mutant contained two disulphide bridges (between positions 2 and 28 and between positions 110 and 154, respectively) and the mutations N11D, N38E, and Q162H. With a half-life of ~56 h at 65°C, the thermostability of this sevenfold mutant was ~5,000 times higher than that of TRX II, and the half-life was 25 min even at 75°C. The thermostability of this mutant was ~30 times higher than that of the corresponding mutant missing the bridge between positions 2 and 28. The extensive stabilization at two protein regions did not alter the kinetic properties of the sevenfold mutant from that of the wild-type TRX II. The combination of disulphide bridges enhanced significantly the pH-dependent stability in a wide pH range.     

Enhancement of thermostability of fungal deglycating enzymes by directed evolution

Fructosyl peptide oxidases are valuable for the determination of glycoproteins such as hemoglobin A1c. For practical use in clinical diagnosis, we applied directed evolution to improve the thermostability of these enzymes. After two rounds of random mutagenesis and high-throughput screening, six thermostabilizing amino acid substitutions were identified. Therefore, site-directed and cassette mutageneses were applied to combine these six stabilizing mutations. The simultaneous mutants showed that the stabilizing effect of the amino acid replacement was cumulative. The sextuple mutant enzyme, R94K/G184D/F265L/N272D/H302R/H388Y, had a half-life of thermal inactivation at 50°C that was 79.8-fold longer than that of the parental fructosyl peptide oxidase. The thermostable variants also showed increased tolerance to digestion by a protease. The sextuple mutant enzyme did not lose its activity on incubation with neutral protease, while the wild-type enzyme almost completely lost its activity. Furthermore, three amino acid substitutions were introduced into another fructosyl peptide oxidase with a different substrate specificity. The half-life of inactivation at 50°C was 3.61-fold longer than that of the parent enzyme. These engineered fructosyl peptide oxidases will be useful for industrial application to clinical diagnosis.     

Probing the structural basis for the difference in thermostability displayed by family 10 xylanases

Thermostability is an important property of industrially significant hydrolytic enzymes: understanding the structural basis for this attribute will underpin the future biotechnological exploitation of these biocatalysts. The Cellvibrio family 10 (GH10) xylanases display considerable sequence identity but exhibit significant differences in thermostability; thus, these enzymes represent excellent models to examine the structural basis for the variation in stability displayed by these glycoside hydrolases. Here, we have subjected the intracellular Cellvibrio mixtus xylanase CmXyn10B to forced protein evolution. Error-prone PCR and selection identified a double mutant, A334V/G348D, which confers an increase in thermostability. The mutant has a Tm 8 degrees C higher than the wild-type enzyme and, at 55 degrees C, the first-order rate constant for thermal inactivation of A334V/G348D is 4.1 x 10(-4) min(-1), compared to a value of 1.6 x 10(-1) min(-1) for the wild-type enzyme. The introduction of the N to C-terminal disulphide bridge into A334V/G348D, which increases the thermostability of wild-type CmXyn10B, conferred a further approximately 2 degrees C increase in the Tm of the double mutant. The crystal structure of A334V/G348D showed that the introduction of Val334 fills a cavity within the hydrophobic core of the xylanase, increasing the number of van der Waals interactions with the surrounding aromatic residues, while O(delta1) of Asp348 makes an additional hydrogen bond with the amide of Gly344 and O(delta2) interacts with the arabinofuranose side-chain of the xylose moiety at the -2 subsite. To investigate the importance of xylan decorations in productive substrate binding, the activity of wild-type CmXyn10B, the mutant A334V/G348D, and several other GH10 xylanases against xylotriose and xylotriose containing an arabinofuranose side-chain (AX3) was assessed. The enzymes were more active against AX3 than xylotriose, providing evidence that the arabinose side-chain makes a generic contribution to substrate recognition by GH10 xylanases.     

Increased thermostability of microbial transglutaminase by combination of several hot spots evolved by random and saturation mutagenesis

The thermostability of microbial transglutaminase (MTG) of Streptomyces mobaraensis was further improved by saturation mutagenesis and DNA-shuffling. High-throughput screening was used to identify clones with increased thermostability at 55°C. Saturation mutagenesis was performed at seven "hot spots", previously evolved by random mutagenesis. Mutations at four positions (2, 23, 269, and 294) led to higher thermostability. The variants with single amino acid exchanges comprising the highest thermostabilities were combined by DNA-shuffling. A library of 1,500 clones was screened and variants showing the highest ratio of activities after incubation for 30 min at 55°C relative to a control at 37°C were selected. 116 mutants of this library showed an increased thermostability and 2 clones per deep well plate were sequenced (35 clones). 13 clones showed only the desired sites without additional point mutations and eight variants were purified and characterized. The most thermostable mutant (triple mutant S23V-Y24N-K294L) exhibited a 12-fold higher half-life at 60°C and a 10-fold higher half-life at 50°C compared to the unmodified recombinant wild-type enzyme. From the characterization of different triple mutants differing only in one amino acid residue, it can be concluded that position 294 is especially important for thermostabilization. The simultaneous exchange of amino acids at sites 23, 24, 269 and 289 resulted in a MTG-variant with nearly twofold higher specific activity and a temperature optimum of 55°C. A triple mutant with amino acid substitutions at sites 2, 289 and 294 exhibits a temperature optimum of 60°C, which is 10°C higher than that of the wild-type enzyme.     

Cumulative Effect of Amino Acid Replacements Results in Enhanced Thermostability of Potato Type L α-Glucan Phosphorylase

The thermostability of potato type L α-glucan phosphorylase (EC 2.4.1.1) was enhanced by random and site-directed mutagenesis. We obtained three single-residue mutations—Phe39→Leu (F39L), Asn135→Ser (N135S), and Thr706→Ile (T706I)—by random mutagenesis. Although the wild-type enzyme was completely inactivated, these mutant enzymes retained their activity even after heat treatment at 60°C for 2 h. Combinations of these mutations were introduced by site-directed mutagenesis. The simultaneous mutation of two (F39L/N135S, F39L/T706I, and N135S/T706I) or three (F39L/N135S/T706I) residues further increased the thermostability of the enzyme, indicating that the effect of the replacement of the residues was cumulative. The triple-mutant enzyme, F39L/N135S/T706I, retained 50% of its original activity after heat treatment at 65°C for 20 min. Further analysis indicated that enzymes with a F39L or T706I mutation were resistant to possible proteolytic degradation.