Heterogeneity in the molecular species of heat-stable enterotoxin of Vibrio cholerae non-O1 expressed by Escherichia coli carrying the cloned toxin gene

The biological activity of the heat-stable enterotoxin of Vibrio cholerae non-O1 (NAG-ST) was found to be predominantly associated with the periplasmic extract (about four-fold higher than the culture supernatant) of a recombinant E. coli (JM109) strain carrying the NAG-St toxin gene. Four molecular species of NAG-ST, two each from the periplasmic extract and culture supernatant of JM109, were purified. Amino acid sequence analysis of the four NAG-ST peptides isolated by HPLC revealed that they all differed from that of the mature 17-amino acid residue NAG-ST released by V. cholerae non-O1. The Mr-values of the peptides obtained from the periplasmic extract were 4331 and 2785, while those recovered from the culture supernatant were 3154 and 2785. It thus appears that V. cholerae NAG-ST is synthesized as larger molecules in the recombinant E. coli strain. The differences in sizes of the exported NAG-ST molecule could relate to difference in the enzyme cleavage system between E. coli and V. cholerea

Kinetic Resolution of Aromatic β-Amino Acids Using a Combination of Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase and Aminomutase Biocatalysts

An enzymatic strategy for the preparation of (R)-β-arylalanines employing phenylalanine aminomutase and ammonia lyase (PAM and PAL) enzymes has been demonstrated. Candidate PAMs with the desired (S)-selectivity from Streptomyces maritimus (EncP) and Bacillus sp. (PabH) were identified via sequence analysis using a well-studied template sequence. The newly discovered PabH could be linked to the first ever proposed biosynthesis of pyloricidin-like secondary metabolites and was shown to display better β-lyase activity in many cases. In spite of this, a method combining the higher conversion of EncP with a strict α-lyase from Anabaena variabilis (AvPAL) was found to be more amenable, allowing kinetic resolution of five racemic substrates and a preparative-scale reaction with >98% (R) enantiomeric excess. This work represents an improved and enantiocomplementary method to existing biocatalytic strategies, allowing simple product separation and modular telescopic combination with a preceding chemical step using an achiral aldehyde as starting material. (Figure presented.)