High-level expression of Rhodotorula gracilis d-amino acid oxidase in Pichia pastoris

By combining gene design and heterologous over-expression of Rhodotorula gracilis D-amino acid oxidase (RgDAO) in Pichia pastoris, enzyme production was enhanced by one order of magnitude compared to literature benchmarks, giving 350 kUnits/l of fed-batch bioreactor culture with a productivity of 3.1 kUnits/l h. P. pastoris cells permeabilized by freeze-drying and incubation in 2-propanol (10% v/v) produce a highly active (1.6 kUnits/g dry matter) and stable oxidase preparation. Critical bottlenecks in the development of an RgDAO catalyst for industrial applications have been eliminated.

Stepwise engineering of a Pichia pastoris D-amino acid oxidase whole cell catalyst

Trigonopsis variabilis D-amino acid oxidase (TvDAO) is a well characterized enzyme used for cephalosporin C conversion on industrial scale. However, the demands on the enzyme with respect to activity, operational stability and costs also vary with the field of application. Processes that use the soluble enzyme suffer from fast inactivation of TvDAO while immobilized oxidase preparations raise issues related to expensive carriers and catalyst efficiency. Therefore, oxidase preparations that are more robust and active than those currently available would enable a much broader range of economically viable applications of this enzyme in fine chemical syntheses. A multi-step engineering approach was chosen here to develop a robust and highly active Pichia pastoris TvDAO whole-cell biocatalyst. As compared to the native T. variabilis host, a more than seven-fold enhancement of the intracellular level of oxidase activity was achieved in P. pastoris through expression optimization by codon redesign as well as efficient subcellular targeting of the enzyme to peroxisomes. Multi copy integration further doubled expression and the specific activity of the whole cell catalyst. From a multicopy production strain, about 1.3 x 103 U/g wet cell weight (wcw) were derived by standard induction conditions feeding pure methanol. A fed-batch cultivation protocol using a mixture of methanol and glycerol in the induction phase attenuated the apparent toxicity of the recombinant oxidase to yield final biomass concentrations in the bioreactor of >or= 200 g/L compared to only 117 g/L using the standard methanol feed. Permeabilization of P. pastoris using 10% isopropanol yielded a whole-cell enzyme preparation that showed 49% of the total available intracellular oxidase activity and was notably stabilized (by three times compared to a widely used TvDAO expressing Escherichia coli strain) under conditions of D-methionine conversion using vigorous aeration. Stepwise optimization using a multi-level engineering approach has delivered a new P. pastoris whole cell TvDAO biocatalyst showing substantially enhanced specific activity and stability under operational conditions as compared to previously reported preparations of the enzyme. The production of the oxidase through fed-batch bioreactor culture and subsequent cell permeabilization is high-yielding and efficient. Therefore this P. pastoris catalyst has been evaluated for industrial purposes.

Part I. Synthesis of L-amino acid oxidase by a serine- or glycine-requiring strain of neurospora. Part II. Studies concerning multiple electrophoretic forms of tyrosinase in neurospora

Part I: Synthesis of L-Amino Acid Oxidase by a Serine- or Glycine-Requiring Strain of Neurospora

Wild-type cultures of Neurospora crassa growing on minimal medium contain low levels of L-amino acid oxidase, tyrosinase, and nicotinarnide adenine dinucleotide glycohydrase (NADase). The enzymes are derepressed by starvation and by a number of other conditions which are inhibitory to growth. L-amino acid oxidase is, in addition, induced by growth on amino acids. A mutant which produces large quantities of both L-amino acid oxidase and NADase when growing on minimal medium was investigated. Constitutive synthesis of L-amino acid oxidase was shown to be inherited as a single gene, called P110, which is separable from constitutive synthesis of NADase. P110 maps near the centromere on linkage group IV.

L-amino acid oxidase produced constitutively by P110 was partially purified and compared to partially purified L-amino acid oxidase produced by derepressed wild-type cultures. The enzymes are identical with respect to thermostability and molecular weight as judged by gel filtration.

The mutant P110 was shown to be an incompletely blocked auxotroph which requires serine or glycine. None of the enzymes involved in the synthesis of serine from 3-phosphoglyceric acid or glyceric acid was found to be deficient in the mutant, however. An investigation of the free intracellular amino acid pools of P110 indicated that the mutant is deficient in serine, glycine, and alanine, and accumulates threonine and homoserine.

The relationship between the amino acid requirement of P110 and its synthesis of L-amino acid oxidase is discussed.

Part II: Studies Concerning Multiple Electrophoretic Forms of Tyrosinase in Neurospora

Supernumerary bands shown by some crude tyrosinase preparations in paper electrophoresis were investigated. Genetic analysis indicated that the location of the extra bands is determined by the particular T allele present. The presence of supernumerary bands varies with the method used to derepress tyrosinase production, and with the duration of derepression. The extra bands are unstable and may convert to the major electrophoretic band, suggesting that they result from modification of a single protein. Attempts to isolate the supernumerary bands by continuous flow paper electrophoresis or density gradient zonal electrophoresis were unsuccessful.

Molecular characterization of Trimeresurus stejnegeri venom L-amino acid oxidase with potential anti-HIV activity

A novel L-amino acid oxidase, named TSV-LAO, has been purified and cloned from the snake Trimeresurus stejnegeri. Fifty percentage cytotoxic concentrations (CC50) of TSV-LAO on C8166 cells were 24 and 390 nM in the absence or presence of catalase (400nM), respectively. However, at concentrations that showed little effect on cell viability, TSV-LAO displayed dose dependent inhibition on HIV-1 infection and replication. The antiviral selectivity indexes (CC50/EC50) were 16 and 6, respectively, corresponding to the measurements of syncytium formation and HIV-1 p24 antigen expression. Interestingly, the presence of catalase resulted in an increase of its antiviral selectivity to 52 and 38. Under the same conditions, no anti-HIV-1 activity was observed by exogenous addition of H2O2. The complete amino acid sequence of TSV-LAO, as deduced from its cDNA, exhibits a high degree of sequence identity with other snake venom LAOs. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Molecular characterization of L-amino acid oxidase from king cobra venom

An L-amino acid oxidase from Ophiophagus hannah snake venom (Oh-LAAO) was purified by successive gel filtration, ion-exchange and heparin chromatography. Oh-LAAO did not induce platelet aggregation; however, it had potent inhibitory activity on platelet a

L-amino acid oxidase from Naja atra venom activates and binds to human platelets

An L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO), NA-LAAO, was purified from the venom of Naja atra. Its N-terminal sequence shows great similarity with LAAOs from other snake venoms. NA-LAAO dose-dependently induced aggregation of washed human platelets. However, it had n

Purification and characterization of a new L-amino acid oxidase from Daboia russellii siamensis venom

A new L-amino acid oxidase (designated as DRS-LAAO) was purified from Daboia russellii siamensis venom by ion-exchange, gel filtration and affinity chromatographies. DRS-LAAO is a homodimeric enzyme with a molecular weight of 120.0 kDa as measured by size

Purification, characterization and biological activity of an L-amino acid oxidase from Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus venom

An L-amino acid oxidase (TM-LAO) from the venom of Hunan Trimeresurus mucrosquamatus was purified to homogenicity by three steps including DEAE Sephadex A-50 ion-exchange chromatography, Sephadex G-75 gel filtration and Resourse Q ion-exchange chromatography. TM-LAO is composed of two identical subunits with a molecular weight of 55 kD by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight was different with that of LAO purified from the same species distributed in Taiwan that was 70 kD. The 24 N-terminal ammo acid sequence of TM-LAO is ADNKNPLEECFRETNYEEFLEIAR, which shares high similarity with other Viperid snake venom LAOs and has moderate similarity with Elapid snake venom LAOs. Further studies found that TM-LAO inhibited the growth of E. colt, S. aurues and B. dysenteriae. TM-LAO also showed cytotoxicity and platelet aggregation activity. All the biological activities were eliminated by catalase, a H2O2 scavenger. It shows that these biological effects are possibly due to the formation of H2O2 produced by TM-LAO.

Purification, characterization and biological activities of the L-amino acid oxidase from Bungarus fasciatus snake venom

L-Amino acid oxidases (LAAOs) are widely distributed in snake venoms, which contribute to the toxicity of venoms. However, LAAO from Bungarus fasciatus (B. fasciatus) snake venom has not been isolated previously. In the present study, LAAO from B. fasciat

Purification and characterization of L-amino acid oxidase from Agkistrodon blomhoffii ussurensis snake venom of Changbai Mountains

The L-a. a, oxidase of Agkistrodon blomhof fii ussurensis of Changbai Mountains in northeast of China has been separated by using ion-exchange and gel filtration techniques, This enzyme is composed of two subunits, the molecular weight of one subunit is about 36 000, the another is about 57 000, determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacryamide gel electrophoresis and matrix assisted laser desorption ion/time of flight mass spectrometry, The activity of L-a, a. oxidase determined using L-Leu as substrate. The optimal pH of the enzyme is 4. 5 similar to 5. 5 and 8 similar to 9. The UV-Visible absorption spectrum of L-a, a. oxidase shows the characteristics of flavor-proteins.

Effect of environmental conditions on the N uptake route of soil microorganisms and adaption of a method to determine amino acid oxidase in soil

Soil microorganisms have evolved two possible mechanisms for their uptake of organic N: the direct route and the mobilization-immobilization-turnover (MIT) route. In the direct route, simple organic molecules are taken up via various mechanisms directly into the cell. In the MIT route, the deamination occurs outside the cell and all N is mineralized to NH4+ before assimilation. A better understanding of the mechanisms controlling the different uptake routes of soil microorganisms under different environmental conditions is crucial for understanding mineralization processes of organic material in soil. For the first experiment we incubated soil samples from the long term trial in Bad Lauchstädt with corn residues with different C to N ratios and inorganic N for 21 days at 20 °C. Under the assumption that all added amino acids were taken up or mineralized, the direct uptake route was more important in soil amended with corn residues with a wide C to N ratio. After 21 days of incubation the direct uptake of added amino acids increased in the order addition of corn residue with a: “C to N ratio of 40 & (NH4)2SO4 and no addition (control)” (69% and 68%, respectively) < “C to N ratio of 20” (73%) < “C to N ratio of 40” (95%). In all treatments the proportion of the added amino acids that were mineralized increased with time, indicating that the MIT route became more important over time. To investigate the effects of soil depth on the N uptake route of soil microorganisms (experiment II), soil samples in two soil depths (0-5 cm; 30-40 cm) were incubated with corn residues with different C to N ratios and inorganic N for 21 days at 20 °C and 60% (WHC). The addition of corn residue resulted in a marked increase of protease activity in both depths due to the induction from the added substrate. Addition of corn residue with a wide C to N ratio resulted in a significantly greater part of the direct uptake (97% and 94%) than without the addition of residues (85% and 80%) or addition of residue with a small C to N ratio (90% and 84%) or inorganic N (91% and 79% in the surface soil and subsoil, respectively), suggesting that under conditions of sufficient mineralizable N (C to N ratio of 20) or increased concentrations of NH4+, the enzyme system involved in the direct uptake is slightly repressed. Substrate additions resulted in an initially significantly higher increase of the direct uptake in the surface soil than in the subsoil. As a large proportion of the organic N input into soil is in form of proteinaceous material, the deamination of amino acids is a key reaction of the MIT route. Therefore the enzyme amino acid oxidase contribute to the extracellular N mineralization in soil. The objective of experiment III was to adapt a method to determine amino acid oxidase in soil. The detection via synthetic fluorescent Lucifer Yellow derivatives of the amino acid lysine is possible in soil. However, it was not possible to find the substrate concentration at which the reaction rate is independent of substrate concentration and therefore we were not able to develop a valid soil enzyme assay.

Antibacterial and antiparasitic effects of Bothrops marajoensis venom and its fractions: Phospholipase A(2) and L-amino acid oxidase

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Cell cycle arrest evidence, parasiticidal and bactericidal properties induced by L-amino acid oxidase from Bothrops atrox snake venom

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Platelet aggregation and antibacterial effects of an L-amino acid oxidase purified from Bothrops alternatus snake venom

The isolation and biochemical/enzymatic characterization of an L-amino acid oxidase, Balt-LAAO-I, from Bothrops alternates snake venom, is described. Balt-LAAO-I is an acidic glycoprotein, pI similar to 5.37, homodimeric, M-r similar to 123, 000, whose Nterminal sequence is ADVRNPLE EFRETDYEVL. It displays a high specificity toward hydrophobic and basic amino acids, while deglycosylation does not alter its enzymatic activity. Bait-LAAO-I induces platelet aggregation and shows bactericidal activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, this enzyme is slightly hemorrhagic and induces edema in the mouse paw. Bait-LAAO-I is a multifunctional enzyme with promising relevant biotechnological and medical applications. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.