Cloning, Heterologous Expression, and Characterization of the Xylitol and l-Arabitol Dehydrogenase Genes, Texdh and Telad, from the Thermophilic Fungus Talaromyces emersonii

Identification and characterization of D-xylose reductase involved in pentose catabolism of the zygomycetous fungus Rhizomucor pusillus

Rhizomucor pusillus NBRC 4578 efficiently produces ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass because of its ability to ferment not only d-glucose, but also d-xylose. When the strain was cultivated on d-xylose, ethanol was gradually formed in the culture medium with a decrease in d-xylose and the simultaneous accumulation of xylitol, which suggested that the strain catabolized d-xylose with d-xylose reductase (XR) and xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH). XR (RpXR) was purified to homogeneity from the crude extract prepared from the mycelia of the strain grown on d-xylose. The purified enzyme was found to be NADPH-dependent and prefer pentoses such as d-xylose, d-ribose, and l-arabinose as substrates. Isolation of the genomic DNA and cDNA of the xyl1 gene encoding RpXR revealed that the gene was interrupted by two introns and the exon of the gene encoded a protein composed of 322 amino acids with a Mr of 36,724. Phylogenetic analysis showed that RpXR is more related to 4-dihydromethyltrisporate dehydrogenases from Mucoraseae fungi rather than the previously reported fungal XRs. Quantitative real-time PCR indicated that transcription of the xyl1 gene was marked in the presence of d-xylose and l-arabinose, but was week in the presence of d-glucose. These biochemical and expression analyses suggest that RpXR is involved in the catabolism of l-arabinose as well as d-xylose. This is the first report of the purification, characterization, and gene cloning of XR from zygomycetous fungi.

Properties of recombinant Strep-tagged and untagged hyperthermophilic D-arabitol dehydrogenase from Thermotoga maritima

The first hyperthermophilic D-arabitol dehydrogenase from Thermotoga maritima was heterologously purified from Escherichia coli. The protein was purified with and without a Strep-tag. The enzyme exclusively catalyzed the NAD(H)-dependent oxidoreduction of D-arabitol, D-xylitol, D-ribulose, or D-xylulose. A twofold increase of catalytic rates was observed upon addition of Mg(2+) or K(+). Interestingly, only the tag-less protein was thermostable, retaining 90% of its activity after 90 min at 85 °C. However, the tag-less form of D-arabitol dehydrogenase had similar kinetic parameters compared to the tagged enzyme, demonstrating that the Strep-tag was not deleterious to protein function but decreased protein stability. A single band at 27.6 kDa was observed on SDS-PAGE and native PAGE revealed that the protein formed a homohexamer and a homododecamer. The enzyme catalyzed oxidation of D-arabitol to D: -ribulose and therefore belongs to the class of D-arabitol 2-dehydrogenases, which are typically observed in yeast and not bacteria. The product D-ribulose is a rare ketopentose sugar that has numerous industrially applications. Given its thermostability and specificity, D-arabitol 2-dehydrogenase is a desirable biocatalyst for the production of rare sugar precursors.