A hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL) from the millipede Chamberlinius hualienensis has high potential for industrial use in the synthesis of cyanohydrins. However, obtaining sufficient amounts of millipedes is difficult, and the production of the Chamberlinius hualienensis HNL (ChuaHNL) in E. coli has not been very successful. Therefore, we investigated the conditions required for high-yield heterologous production of this enzyme using Pichia pastoris. When we employed P. pastoris to express His-ChuaHNL, the yield was very low (22.6 ± 3.8 U/L culture). Hence, we investigated the effects of ChuaHNL codon optimization and the co-production of two protein disulfide isomerases (PDIs) [from P. pastoris (PpPDI) and C. hualienensis (ChuaPDI1, ChuaPDI2)] on His-ChuaHNL production. The productivity of His-ChuaHNL was increased approximately 140 times per unit culture to 3170 ± 144.7 U/L by the co-expression of codon-optimized ChuaHNL and PpPDI. Moreover, we revealed that the N-glycosylation on ChuaHNL had a large effect on the stability, enzyme secretion, and catalytic properties of ChuaHNL in P. pastoris. This study demonstrates an economical and efficient approach for the production of HNL, and the data show that glycosylation has a large effect on the enzyme properties and the P. pastoris expression system.

l-Lysine is an essential amino acid important for maintaining human health. To date, many enzymatic methods for assay of l-lysine have been developed. The first method has been developed using l-lysine α-oxidase (l-LysOα). However, low specificity towards l-lysine of l-LysOα is a disadvantage inherent in this method. Recently, methods more specific to l-lysine were developed using newly discovered enzymes such as l-lysine ε-oxidase (l-LysOε), l-amino acid oxidase/monooxygenase (l-AAO/MOG) and l-lysine decarboxylase/oxidase (l-Lys-DC/OD). The present paper reviews recent enzymatic methods used for assay of l-lysine.

We cloned a set of genes encoding alcohol oxidase from Ochrobactrum sp. AIU 033 (OcAOD), which exhibits the appropriate substrate specificity for glyoxylic acid production from glycolic acid. The set of genes for OcAOD contained two open reading frames consisting of 555-bp (aodB) and 1572-bp (aodA) nucleotides, which encode the precursor for the β-subunit and α-subunit of OcAOD, respectively. We expressed the cloned genes as an active product in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The recombinant OcAOD oxidized glycolic acid and primary alcohols with C2-C8 but not glyoxylic acid (as is the case for native OcAOD), whereas the K and V values for glycolic acid and the pH stability were higher than those of native OcAOD. A consensus sequence for the twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway was identified in the N-terminal region of the precursor for the β-subunit, and the active form of OcAOD was localized in the periplasm of recombinant E. coli, which indicated that OcAOD would be transported from the cytoplasm to the periplasm by the hitchhiker mechanism through the Tat pathway. The OcAOD productivity of the recombinant E. coli was 24-fold higher than that of Ochrobactrum sp. AIU 033, and it was further enhanced by 1.2 times by the co-expression of additional tatABC from E. coli BL21(DE3). Our findings thus suggest a function of the β-subunit of OcAOD in membrane translocation, and that the recombinant OcAOD has characteristics that are suitable for the enzymatic synthesis of glyoxylic acid as well as native OcAOD.

The leaves of Nandina domestica Thunb. exhibited high hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL) activity in (R)-mandelonitrile synthesis. The specific activity of young leaves was significantly higher than that of mature leaves. We isolated two HNLs with molecular mass of 24.9 kDa (NdHNL-S) and 28.0 kDa (NdHNL-L) from the young leaves. Both NdHNLs were composed of two identical subunits, without FAD and carbohydrates. We purified NdHNL-L and revealed its enzymatic properties. The whole deduced amino acid sequence of NdHNL-L was not homologous to any other HNLs, and the specific activity for mandelonitrile synthesis by NdHNL-L was higher than that by other plant HNLs. The enzyme catalyzed enantioselective synthesis of (R)-cyanohydrins, exhibited high activity at pH 4.0, and high stability in the pH range of 3.5-8.0 and below 55°C. Thus, NdHNL-L is a novel HNL with novel amino acid sequence and has a potential for the efficient production of (R)-cyanohydrins.

l‐Amino acid oxidase/monooxygenase from Pseudomonas sp. AIU 813 (l‐AAO/MOG) catalyzes both the oxidative deamination and oxidative decarboxylation of the α‐group of l‐Lys to produce a keto acid and amide, respectively. l‐AAO/MOG exhibits limited specificity for l‐amino acid substrates with a basic side chain. We previously determined its ligand‐free crystal structure and identified a key residue for maintaining the dual activities. Here, we determined the structures of l‐AAO/MOG complexed with l‐Lys, l‐ornithine, and l‐Arg and revealed its substrate recognition. Asp238 is located at the ceiling of a long hydrophobic pocket and forms a strong interaction with the terminal, positively charged group of the substrates. A mutational analysis on the D238A mutant indicated that the interaction is critical for substrate binding but not for catalytic control between the oxidase/monooxygenase activities. The catalytic activities of the D238E mutant unexpectedly increased, while the D238F mutant exhibited altered substrate specificity to long hydrophobic substrates. In the ligand‐free structure, there are two channels connecting the active site and solvent, and a short region located at the dimer interface is disordered. In the l‐Lys complex structure, a loop region is displaced to plug the channels. Moreover, the disordered region in the ligand‐free structure forms a short helix in the substrate complex structures and creates the second binding site for the substrate. It is assumed that the amino acid substrate enters the active site of l‐AAO/MOG through this route.DatabaseThe atomic coordinates and structure factors (codes 5YB6, 5YB7, and 5YB8) have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (http://wwpdb.org/).EC numbers1.4.3.2 (l‐amino acid oxidase), 1.13.12.2 (lysine 2‐monooxygenase).

The enzyme responsible for the enantioselective production of (S)-1,1,1-trifluoro-2-propanol ((S)-TFP) from 1,1,1-trifluoroacetone (TFA) has been identified in Ogataea polymorpha NBRC 0799. We purified two carbonyl reductases, OpCRD-A and OpCRD-B from this strain, and revealed their characteristics. Both enzymes were specific to NADH, but the following characteristics were different: The molecular mass of subunit OpCRD-A was 40 kDa and that of OpCRD-B was 43 kDa. Amino acid sequences of both enzymes were only 21% identical. OpCRD-B contained 4 mol of zinc per mole of enzyme, but OpCRD-A did not. The optimal pH, temperature, pH stability, thermostability, and inhibitor specificity were also remarkably different. With regard to substrate specificity, both enzymes exhibited high reductase activity toward a wide variety of ketones, aldehydes and fluoroketones, and dehydrogenase activity toward 2-propanol and 2-butanol. The reductase activity was much higher than the dehydrogenase activity at acidic pH. OpCRD-A enantioselectively produced (S)-TFP from TFA, but OpCRD-B preferentially produced (R)-TFP. Thus, we concluded that OpCRD-A plays the main role in the production of (S)-TFP by a reaction of O. polymorpha NBRC 0799 cells and that OpCRD-A has great potential for efficient production of (S)-TFP, as it is an S-specific enzyme and does not catalyze the dehydrogenation of (S)-TFP.

An enzymatic method for 6-oxohexanoic acid production was developed using 6-aminohexanoic acid and an ω-amino group-oxidizing enzyme (ω-AOX) from Phialemonium sp. AIU 274. 6-Oxohexanoic acid was produced from 6-aminohexanoic acid with 100% yield by incubation with 0.3 U of the ω-AOX and 20 U of catalase at 30 °C for 30 h in 0.1 M potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0).

A beta-D-galactosidase exhibiting high activity in the alkaline pH region was purified from Teratosphaeria acidotherma AIU BGA-1, which we previously isolated as a unique fungal producer of three acidophilic and one alkalophilic beta-D-galactosidases (Isobe et al., J. Biosci. Bioeng., 116, 171-174, 2013). The enzyme was stable in the pH range 7.5-10.0 and exhibited optimal activity at pH 8.0 and 60 degrees C. The enzyme hydrolyzed 2-nitrophenyl beta-D-galactopyranoside, 4-nitrophenyl beta-D-galactopyranoside, and lactose, and the Km values were estimated to be 0349 mM, 0.488 mM, and 701 mM, respectively. Chelating reagents (EDTA and o-phenanthroline) and metals (Cu2+ and Ni2+) inhibited the enzyme activity, and Mn2+ was a good activator. The enzyme also exhibited transgalactosylation activity for lactose. The enzyme's molecular mass was estimated to be 180 kDa, and its structure was monomeric. Thus, the enzymatic and physicochemical characteristics of the alkalophilic beta-galactosidase in this study clearly differed from those of the previously known alkalophilic beta-D-galactosidases. (C) 2016, The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. All rights reserved.

A β-galactosidase exhibiting maximal activity at pH 1.0 was purified from Teratosphaeria acidotherma AIU BGA-1. The enzyme had a molecular mass of 180 kDa and consisted of two heterosubunits of 120 kDa and 66 kDa. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the large subunit was found to be SPNLQDIVTVDGESY. These physicochemical properties differed from those of other microbial β-galactosidases. At pH values of 1.5 and pH 4.5, the enzyme exhibited its highest activity at temperatures of 70°C and 80°C, respectively. Thus, the enzyme exhibited the lowest optimal pH and highest optimal temperature among the microbial β-galactosidases thus reported. The enzyme retained more than 80% of its original activity in the pH range from 2.0 to 8.0 by incubation at 50°C for 30 min. The enzyme hydrolyzed 4-nitrophenyl-β-D-fucopyranoside, 2-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside, and 4-nitrophenyl-β-D-galacto-pyranoside at relative reaction rates of 100, 59, and 24, respectively, at pH 1.5, and its affinity for β-D-galactopyranosides was higher than that for β-D-fucopyranosides. The enzyme also efficiently hydrolyzed lactose in milk and whey from yoghurt at pH 1.5.

We found a new aldehyde oxidase (ALOD), which catalyzes the conversion of glycolaldehyde to glycolate, from Burkholderia sp. AIU 129. The enzyme further oxidized aliphatic aldehydes, an aromatic aldehyde, and glyoxal, but not glycolate or alcohols. The molecular mass of this enzyme was 130 kDa, and it was composed of three different subunits (αβγ structure), in which the α, β, and γ subunits were 76 kDa, 36 kDa, and 14 kDa, respectively. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of each subunit showed high similarity to those of putative subunits of xanthine dehydrogenase. Metals (copper, iron and molybdenum) and chelating reagents (α,α'-dipyridyl and 8-hydroxyquinoline) inhibited the ALOD activity. The ALOD showed highest activity at pH 6.0 and 50°C. Twenty mM glycolaldehyde was completely converted to glycolate by incubation at 30°C for 3 h, suggesting that the ALOD found in this study would be useful for enzymatic production of glycolate.

We developed new enzymatic methods for the selective assay of L-lysine by utilizing an oxidase reaction and a decarboxylation reaction by the L-lysine-specific decarboxylase/oxidase (L-Lys-DC/OD) from Burkholderia sp. AIU 395. The method utilizing the oxidase reaction of this enzyme was useful for determination of high concentrations of L-lysine. The method utilizing the decarboxylase reaction, which proceeded via the combination of the L-Lys-DC/OD and putrescine oxidase (PUO) from Micrococcus rubens, was effective for determination of low concentrations of L-lysine. Both methods showed good linearity, and neither was affected by other amino acids or amines. In addition, the within-assay and between-assay precisions of both methods were within the allowable range. The coupling of L-Lys-DC/OD with PUO was also useful for the differential assay of L-lysine and cadaverine. These newly developed methods were applied to the assay of L-lysine in biological samples and found to be effective.

Glycolic acid is an attractive raw material which is used as a dyeing and tanning agent in the textile industry, a flavoring agent and preservative in the food processing industry, and a skin care agent in the pharmaceutical industry. It is also utilized for the production of polyglycolic acid and other biocompatible copolymers. Glycolic acid can be isolated from natural sources, such as sugarcane, sugar beets, pineapple, or cantaloupe, but it is also chemically synthesized by hydrogenation of oxalic acid with nascent hydrogen or the hydrolysis of the cyanohydrin derived from formaldehyde. Ethylene glycol is a relatively inexpensive starting material for the production of glycolic acid by an oxidation reaction. However, the chemical oxidation reaction of ethylene glycol has certain drawbacks, such as the formation of formaldehyde and other compounds as by-products. To overcome such drawbacks of chemical synthesis for the production of glycolic acid, one of the preferred methods is to use enzymatic production rather than chemical synthesis. The utilization of microbial enzymes also has the major advantage of promoting simple and eco-friendly industrial-scale production. We therefore designed a new enzymatic method for the production of glycolic acid from ethylene glycol using two microbial oxidases; ethylene glycol is first converted to glycolaldehyde by an ethylene glycol-oxidizing enzyme, and the resulting glycolaldehyde is then oxidized to glycolic acid by an aldehyde oxidase (ALOD) (Figure 1).

A novel enzyme, which catalyzed decarboxylation of L-lysine into cadaverine with release of carbon dioxide and oxidative deamination of L-lysine into L-2-aminoadipic 5-semialdehyde with release of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, was found from a newly isolated Burkholderia sp. AIU 395. The enzyme was specific to L-lysine and did not exhibit enzyme activities for other L-amino acids, L-lysine derivatives, D-amino acids, and amines. The apparent K-m values for 1.-lysine in the oxidation and decarboxylation reactions were estimated to be 0.44 mM and 0.84 mM, respectively. The molecular mass was estimated to be 150 kDa, which was composed of two identical subunits with molecular mass of 76.5 kDa. The enzyme contained one mol of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate per subunit as a prosthetic group. The enzyme exhibiting decarboxylase and oxidase activities for L-lysine was first reported here, while the deduced amino acid sequence was homologous to that of putative lysine decarboxylases from the genus Burkholderia. (C) 2014, The Society for Biotechnology, Japan. All rights reserved.

We revealed that Ochrobactrum sp. AIU 033, which accumulated a high concentration of glyoxylate from glycolate, produced an enzyme catalyzing oxidation of glycolate to glyoxylate. The enzyme further oxidized lactate and primary alcohols (C2–C10), but did not oxidize glyoxylate, ethylene glycol, glycerol, or methanol. The Km value for glycolate (167 mM) was higher than that for primary alcohols. The glycolate oxidase activity was optimum at pH 5.5, and more than 80% of the enzyme activity remained in the pH range from 5.5 to 6.5 and at below 35 °C. The enzyme had a molecular mass of 130 kDa and was composed of an α2β2 structure, in which the α subunit was 52 kDa and the β subunit was 14 kDa. The enzyme was a flavoprotein and contained two iron atoms. The N-terminal sequences of the 52 kDa subunit and 14 kDa subunit had high similarity to those of putative glucose–methanol–choline oxidoreductases and putative 2-keto-gluconate dehydrogenase. These findings implied that the enzyme was a novel type of alcohol oxidase exhibiting glycolate oxidase activity. The enzyme accumulated glyoxylate with time, but oxalate, which is the oxidation product of glyoxylate, was not detected. This result also indicated that the enzyme catalyzed the formation of glyoxylate in the resting cell-reaction and thus could be useful in the enzymatic production of glyoxylate.