Heterologous expression, purification and characterization of nitrilase from Aspergillus niger K10

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nitrilases attract increasing attention due to their utility in the mild hydrolysis of nitriles. According to activity and gene screening, filamentous fungi are a rich source of nitrilases distinct in evolution from their widely examined bacterial counterparts. However, fungal nitrilases have been less explored than the bacterial ones. Nitrilases are typically heterogeneous in their quaternary structures, forming short spirals and extended filaments, these features making their structural studies difficult.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A nitrilase gene was amplified by PCR from the cDNA library of <it>Aspergillus niger </it>K10. The PCR product was ligated into expression vectors pET-30(+) and pRSET B to construct plasmids pOK101 and pOK102, respectively. The recombinant nitrilase (Nit-ANigRec) expressed in <it>Escherichia coli </it>BL21-Gold(DE3)(pOK101/pTf16) was purified with an about 2-fold increase in specific activity and 35% yield. The apparent subunit size was 42.7 kDa, which is approx. 4 kDa higher than that of the enzyme isolated from the native organism (Nit-ANigWT), indicating post-translational cleavage in the enzyme's native environment. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that a C-terminal peptide (Val₃₂₇- Asn₃₅₆) was present in Nit-ANigRec but missing in Nit-ANigWT and Asp₂₉₈-Val₃₁₃peptide was shortened to Asp₂₉₈-Arg₃₁₀in Nit-ANigWT. The latter enzyme was thus truncated by 46 amino acids. Enzymes Nit-ANigRec and Nit-ANigWT differed in substrate specificity, acid/amide ratio, reaction optima and stability. Refolded recombinant enzyme stored for one month at 4°C was fractionated by gel filtration, and fractions were examined by electron microscopy. The late fractions were further analyzed by analytical centrifugation and dynamic light scattering, and shown to consist of a rather homogeneous protein species composed of 12-16 subunits. This hypothesis was consistent with electron microscopy and our modelling of the multimeric nitrilase, which supports an arrangement of dimers into helical segments as a plausible structural solution.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The nitrilase from <it>Aspergillus niger </it>K10 is highly homologous (≥86%) with proteins deduced from gene sequencing in <it>Aspergillus </it>and <it>Penicillium </it>genera. As the first of these proteins, it was shown to exhibit nitrilase activity towards organic nitriles. The comparison of the Nit-ANigRec and Nit-ANigWT suggested that the catalytic properties of nitrilases may be changed due to missing posttranslational cleavage of the former enzyme. Nit-ANigRec exhibits a lower tendency to form filaments and, moreover, the sample homogeneity can be further improved by <it>in vitro </it>protein refolding. The homogeneous protein species consisting of short spirals is expected to be more suitable for structural studies.</p

Histone Deacetylase Activity Modulates Alternative Splicing

There is increasing evidence to suggest that splicing decisions are largely made when the nascent RNA is still associated with chromatin. Here we demonstrate that activity of histone deacetylases (HDACs) influences splice site selection. Using splicing-sensitive microarrays, we identified ∼700 genes whose splicing was altered after HDAC inhibition. We provided evidence that HDAC inhibition induced histone H4 acetylation and increased RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) processivity along an alternatively spliced element. In addition, HDAC inhibition reduced co-transcriptional association of the splicing regulator SRp40 with the target fibronectin exon. We further showed that the depletion of HDAC1 had similar effect on fibronectin alternative splicing as global HDAC inhibition. Importantly, this effect was reversed upon expression of mouse HDAC1 but not a catalytically inactive mutant. These results provide a molecular insight into a complex modulation of splicing by HDACs and chromatin modifications

Chitinase Chit62J4 Essential for Chitin Processing by Human Microbiome Bacterium Clostridium paraputrificum J4

Commensal bacterium Clostridium paraputrificum J4 produces several extracellular chitinolytic enzymes including a 62 kDa chitinase Chit62J4 active toward 4-nitrophenyl N,N′-diacetyl-β-d-chitobioside (pNGG). We characterized the crude enzyme from bacterial culture fluid, recombinant enzyme rChit62J4, and its catalytic domain rChit62J4cat. This major chitinase, securing nutrition of the bacterium in the human intestinal tract when supplied with chitin, has a pH optimum of 5.5 and processes pNGG with Km = 0.24 mM and kcat = 30.0 s−1. Sequence comparison of the amino acid sequence of Chit62J4, determined during bacterial genome sequencing, characterizes the enzyme as a family 18 glycosyl hydrolase with a four-domain structure. The catalytic domain has the typical TIM barrel structure and the accessory domains—2x Fn3/Big3 and a carbohydrate binding module—that likely supports enzyme activity on chitin fibers. The catalytic domain is highly homologous to a single-domain chitinase of Bacillus cereus NCTU2. However, the catalytic profiles significantly differ between the two enzymes despite almost identical catalytic sites. The shift of pI and pH optimum of the commensal enzyme toward acidic values compared to the soil bacterium is the likely environmental adaptation that provides C. paraputrificum J4 a competitive advantage over other commensal bacteria

Chitinolytic enzymes from bacterium inhabiting human gastrointestinal tract - critical parameters of protein isolation from anaerobic culture

The object of this study are chitinolytic enzymes produced by bacterium Clostridium paraputrificum J4 isolated from the gastrointestinal tract of a healthy human. In particular, we focus on the development of purification protocols, determination of properties of the enzymes and their activity profiles. The process of bacteria cultivation and isolation of chitinolytic complex of enzymes showing specific activities of endo-, exo-chitinase and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase was optimized. A range of various purification procedures were used such as ultrafiltration, precipitation, chromatographic separations (ion-exchange, size exclusion, chromatofocusing) in altered combinations. The optimal purification protocol comprises two or three steps. Individual samples were analyzed by SDS/PAGE electrophoresis and after renaturation their activity could be detected using zymograms. Mass spectroscopy peptide fragment analysis and MALDI analysis of the purest samples indicate presence of endochitinase B (molecular mass about 85 kDa) and of 60-kDa endo- and exochitinases

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of the small laccase from Streptomyces coelicolor

The expression, purification and crystallization of the small laccase from S. coelicolor are reported. Diffraction data were collected to 3 Å resolution

Atomic resolution studies of S1 nuclease complexes reveal details of RNA interaction with the enzyme despite multiple lattice-translocation defects

S1 nuclease from Aspergillus oryzae is a single-strand-specific nuclease from the S1/P1 family that is utilized in biochemistry and biotechnology. S1 nuclease is active on both RNA and DNA but with differing catalytic efficiencies. This study clarifies its catalytic properties using a thorough comparison of differences in the binding of RNA and DNA in the active site of S1 nuclease based on X-ray structures, including two newly solved complexes of S1 nuclease with the products of RNA cleavage at atomic resolution. Conclusions derived from this comparison are valid for the whole S1/P1 nuclease family. For proper model building and refinement, multiple lattice-translocation defects present in the measured diffraction data needed to be solved. Two different approaches were tested and compared. Correction of the measured intensities proved to be superior to the use of the dislocation model of asymmetric units with partial occupancy of individual chains. As the crystals suffered from multiple lattice translocations, equations for their correction were derived de novo. The presented approach to the correction of multiple lattice-translocation defects may help to solve similar problems in the field of protein X-ray crystallography