Cloning,purification and biochemical characterisation of an organic solvent-, detergent-, and thermo-stable amylopullulanase from Thermococcus kodakarensis KOD1

Thermostable amylopullulanases can catalyse the hydrolysis of both α-1,4 and α-1,6 glucosidic bonds and are of considerable interest in the starch saccharification industry. In this study, the gene Apu-Tk encoding an extracellular amylopullulanase was cloned from an extremely thermophilic anaerobic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis KOD1. Apu-Tk encodes an 1100-amino acid protein with a 27-residue signal peptide, which has a predicted mass of 125 kDa after signal peptide cleavage. Sequence alignments showed that Apu-Tk contains the five regions conserved in all GH57 family proteins. Full-length Apu-Tk was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. The purified enzyme displayed both pullulanase and amylase activity. The optimal temperature for Apu-Tk to hydrolyse pullulan and soluble starch was >100 °C. Apu-Tk was also active at a broad range of pH (4–7), with an optimum pH of ~5.0–5.5. Apu-Tk also retained >30% of its original activity and partially folded globular structure in the presence of 8% SDS or 10% β-mercaptoethanol. The high yield, broad pH range, and stability of Apu-Tk implicate it as a potential enzyme for industrial applications.     

Physico-chemical Approach of the Amylolytic Action Pattern of a Thermostable Amylopullulanase

This paper describes the amylolytic action pattern of Thermococcus hydrothermalis recombinant amylopullulanase (Th-ApuΔ2) [E.C 3.2.1.41]. A comparison was made between amylose hydrolysis catalyzed by this enzyme and by two other amylolytic enzymes: α-amylase [E.C 3.2.1.1] (from Aspergillus oryzae) and glucoamylase [E.C. 3.2.1.3] (from Aspergillus niger), respectively taken as models for “endo” and “exo” catalytic patterns. Different independent physico-chemical methods were used to characterize the hydrolysis products obtained with the studied enzymes. Viscosity results were correlated to reducing sugars analysis to show a similarity between glucoamylase [E.C. 3.2.1.3] and Th-ApuΔ2 [E.C 3.2.1.41] behavior. On the other hand, whereas α-amylase [E.C 3.2.1.1] action rapidly decreased the viscosity of medium, glucoamylase and Th-ApuΔ2 hydrolysates have only shown a negligible reduction in viscosity. Glass transition temperatures of glucoamylase and Th-ApuΔ2 hydrolysates were found comparable (225–226°C) and significantly different from that of α-amylase (197°C). Thin-layer chromatographic analysis of hydrolysates mainly revealed the presence of glucose in the case of glucoamylase and Th-ApuΔ2 activities and in addition to glucose the Th-ApuΔ2 chromatograms have shown oligosaccharides with polymerization degree ranging from 2 to 7. These results incite us to conclude that Th-ApuΔ2 has a dual “endo” and “exo” catalytic action pattern. Analysis of the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) results shows a comparable general aspect for all spectra. The presence of more numerous differentiated and intense peaks in the spectrum of Th-ApuΔ2 hydrolysate reveals the presence of short-chain oligosaccharides. These results confirm thin-layer chromatography results and support a dual action pattern.     

Expression of a bi-functional and thermostable amylopullulanase in transgenic rice seeds leads to autohydrolysis and altered composition of starch

Overexpression of bacterial-derived starch metabolic enzymes in plant starch storage organs represents a valuable strategy for improving starch quality, bioprocessing and nutritional value. Transgenic rice seeds producing a thermostable and bifunctional starch hydrolase, amylopullulanase (APU) from Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus 39E, were generated. Starch in these seeds could be hydrolyzed with optimal temperatures between 85 and 95 °C, which resulted in complete conversion of starch into soluble sugars and production of protein-enriched flour within a few hours. By expressing various levels of APU, rice seeds containing reduced amounts of amylose, which is an important factor affecting starch quality, were obtained without a significant impact on grain yield. Elevation in granule-bound pullulanase activity correlates with the reduction of amylose in developing APU-containing rice seeds. APU was found to be localized within amyloplasts and in cell walls, which could be the result of overexpression of APU with a signal peptide. This study establishes novel approaches to alter starch properties, accelerate bioprocessing of starch and production of protein-enriched flour from rice seeds, and could significantly impact the industrial and food uses of cereals.     

Biochemical characterization of engineered amylopullulanase from Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus 39E-implicating the non-necessity of its 100 C-terminal amino acid residues

The functional and structural significance of the C-terminal region of Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus 39E amylopullulanase (TetApu) was explored using C-terminal truncation mutagenesis. Comparative studies between the engineered full-length (TetApuM955) and its truncated mutant (TetApuR855) included initial rate kinetics, fluorescence and CD spectrometric properties, substrate-binding and hydrolysis abilities, thermostability, and thermodenaturation kinetics. Kinetic analyses revealed that the overall catalytic efficiency, k (cat)/K (m), was slightly decreased for the truncated enzymes toward the soluble starch or pullulan substrate. Changes to the substrate affinity, K (m), and turnover rate, k (cat), varied in different directions for both types of substrates between TetApuM955 and TetApuR855. TetApuR855 exhibited a higher thermostability than TetApuM955, and retained similar substrate-binding ability and hydrolyzing efficiency against the raw starch substrate as TetApuM955 did. Fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that TetApuR855 retained an active folding conformation similar to TetApuM955. A CD-melting unfolding study was able to distinguish between TetApuM955 and TetApuR855 by the higher apparent transition temperature in TetApuR855. These results indicate that up to 100 amino acid residues, including most of the C-terminal fibronectin typeIII (FnIII) motif of TetApuM955, could be further removed without causing a seriously aberrant change in structure and a dramatic decrease in soluble starch and pullulan hydrolysis.     

Gene cloning, nucleotide sequence and biochemical properties of a cytoplasmic cyclomaltodextrinase (neopullulanase) from Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius, reclassification of a group of enzymes

A gene encoding a cyclomaltodextrinase (neopullulanase) was cloned from the thermoacidophilic bacterium Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius ATCC27009 and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The encoded CdaA protein lacked an N-terminal signal sequence and aligned well with a family of bacterial proteins described as maltogenic alpha-amylases, neopullulanases or cyclomaltodextrinases. Escherichia coli cells harboring the cloned cdaA gene produced a 66-kDa protein that degraded pullulan in a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel. A. acidocaldarius cells grown on maltose, soluble starch or pullulan synthesized the same protein. Neopullulanase activity of the protein was cytoplasmic and its pH optimum of 5.5 was close to the pH value of the cytoplasm. CdaA degraded cyclomaltodextrins rapidly and pullulan (to panose) more slowly. It is proposed that CdaA functions as a cytoplasmic cyclomaltodextrinase (EC 3.2.1.54).