Cloning of clustered Streptomyces viridosporus T7A lignocellulose catabolism genes encoding peroxidase and endoglucanase and their extracellular expression in Pichia pastoris

Dye-Decolorizing Peroxidases Maintain High Stability and Turnover on Kraft Lignin and Lignocellulose Substrates

Fungal enzyme systems for the degradation of plant cell wall lignin, consisting of, among others, laccases and lignin-active peroxidases, are well characterized. Additionally, fungi and bacteria contain dye-decolorizing peroxidases (DyP), which are also capable of oxidizing and modifying lignin constituents. Studying DyP activity on lignocellulose poses challenges due to the heterogeneity of the substrate and the lack of continuous kinetic methods. In this study, we report the kinetic parameters of bacterial DyP from Amycolatopsis 75iv2 and fungal DyP from Auricularia auricula-judae on insoluble plant materials and kraft lignin by monitoring the depletion of the cosubstrate of the peroxidases with a H2O2 sensor. In the reactions with spruce, both enzymes showed similar kinetics. On kraft lignin, the catalytic rate of bacterial DyP reached 30 ± 2 s-1, whereas fungal DyP was nearly 3 times more active (81 ± 7 s-1). Importantly, the real-time measurement of H2O2 allowed the assessment of continuous activity for both enzymes, revealing a previously unreported exceptionally high stability under turnover conditions. Bacterial DyP performed 24,000 turnovers of H2O2, whereas the fungal DyP achieved 94,000 H2O2 turnovers in 1 h with a remaining activity of 40 and 80%, respectively. Using mass spectrometry, the depletion of the cosubstrate H2O2 was shown to correlate with product formation, validating the amperometric method.

Streptomyces spp. as biocatalyst sources in pulp and paper and textile industries: Biodegradation, bioconversion and valorization of waste

Complex polymers represent a challenge for remediating environmental pollution and an opportunity for microbial-catalysed conversion to generate valorized chemicals. Members of the genus Streptomyces are of interest because of their potential use in biotechnological applications. Their versatility makes them excellent sources of biocatalysts for environmentally responsible bioconversion, as they have a broad substrate range and are active over a wide range of pH and temperature. Most Streptomyces studies have focused on the isolation of strains, recombinant work and enzyme characterization for evaluating their potential for biotechnological application. This review discusses reports of Streptomyces-based technologies for use in the textile and pulp-milling industry and describes the challenges and recent advances aimed at achieving better biodegradation methods featuring these microbial catalysts. The principal points to be discussed are (1) Streptomyces' enzymes for use in dye decolorization and lignocellulosic biodegradation, (2) biotechnological processes for textile and pulp and paper waste treatment and (3) challenges and advances for textile and pulp and paper effluent treatment.

Progress and obstacles in the production and application of recombinant lignin-degrading peroxidases

Lignin is 1 of the 3 major components of lignocellulose. Its polymeric structure includes aromatic subunits that can be converted into high-value-added products, but this potential cannot yet been fully exploited because lignin is highly recalcitrant to degradation. Different approaches for the depolymerization of lignin have been tested, including pyrolysis, chemical oxidation, and hydrolysis under supercritical conditions. An additional strategy is the use of lignin-degrading enzymes, which imitates the natural degradation process. A versatile set of enzymes for lignin degradation has been identified, and research has focused on the production of recombinant enzymes in sufficient amounts to characterize their structure and reaction mechanisms. Enzymes have been analyzed individually and in combinations using artificial substrates, lignin model compounds, lignin and lignocellulose. Here we consider progress in the production of recombinant lignin-degrading peroxidases, the advantages and disadvantages of different expression hosts, and obstacles that must be overcome before such enzymes can be characterized and used for the industrial processing of lignin.

Insights into lignin degradation and its potential industrial applications

Lignocellulose is an abundant biomass that provides an alternative source for the production of renewable fuels and chemicals. The depolymerization of the carbohydrate polymers in lignocellulosic biomass is hindered by lignin, which is recalcitrant to chemical and biological degradation due to its complex chemical structure and linkage heterogeneity. The role of fungi in delignification due to the production of extracellular oxidative enzymes has been studied more extensively than that of bacteria. The two major groups of enzymes that are involved in lignin degradation are heme peroxidases and laccases. Lignin-degrading peroxidases include lignin peroxidase (LiP), manganese peroxidase (MnP), versatile peroxidase (VP), and dye-decolorizing peroxidase (DyP). LiP, MnP, and VP are class II extracellular fungal peroxidases that belong to the plant and microbial peroxidases superfamily. LiPs are strong oxidants with high-redox potential that oxidize the major non-phenolic structures of lignin. MnP is an Mn-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of various phenolic substrates but is not capable of oxidizing the more recalcitrant non-phenolic lignin. VP enzymes combine the catalytic activities of both MnP and LiP and are able to oxidize Mn(2+) like MnP, and non-phenolic compounds like LiP. DyPs occur in both fungi and bacteria and are members of a new superfamily of heme peroxidases called DyPs. DyP enzymes oxidize high-redox potential anthraquinone dyes and were recently reported to oxidize lignin model compounds. The second major group of lignin-degrading enzymes, laccases, are found in plants, fungi, and bacteria and belong to the multicopper oxidase superfamily. They catalyze a one-electron oxidation with the concomitant four-electron reduction of molecular oxygen to water. Fungal laccases can oxidize phenolic lignin model compounds and have higher redox potential than bacterial laccases. In the presence of redox mediators, fungal laccases can oxidize non-phenolic lignin model compounds. In addition to the peroxidases and laccases, fungi produce other accessory oxidases such as aryl-alcohol oxidase and the glyoxal oxidase that generate the hydrogen peroxide required by the peroxidases. Lignin-degrading enzymes have attracted the attention for their valuable biotechnological applications especially in the pretreatment of recalcitrant lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production. The use of lignin-degrading enzymes has been studied in various applications such as paper industry, textile industry, wastewater treatment and the degradation of herbicides.

Exploring bacterial lignin degradation

Plant biomass represents a renewable carbon feedstock that could potentially be used to replace a significant level of petroleum-derived chemicals. One major challenge in its utilization is that the majority of this carbon is trapped in the recalcitrant structural polymers of the plant cell wall. Deconstruction of lignin is a key step in the processing of biomass to useful monomers but remains challenging. Microbial systems can provide molecular information on lignin depolymerization as they have evolved to break lignin down using metalloenzyme-dependent radical pathways. Both fungi and bacteria have been observed to metabolize lignin; however, their differential reactivity with this substrate indicates that they may utilize different chemical strategies for its breakdown. This review will discuss recent advances in studying bacterial lignin degradation as an approach to exploring greater diversity in the environment.

Genome Sequence of Streptomyces viridosporus Strain T7A ATCC 39115, a Lignin-Degrading Actinomycete

We announce the availability of the genome sequence of Streptomyces viridosporus strain T7A ATCC 39115, a plant biomass-degrading actinomycete. This bacterium is of special interest because of its capacity to degrade lignin, an underutilized component of plants in the context of bioenergy. It has a full complement of genes for plant biomass catabolism.

Discovery and characterization of heme enzymes from unsequenced bacteria: application to microbial lignin degradation

Bacteria and other living organisms offer a potentially unlimited resource for the discovery of new chemical catalysts, but many interesting reaction phenotypes observed at the whole organism level remain difficult to elucidate down to the molecular level. A key challenge in the discovery process is the identification of discrete molecular players involved in complex biological transformations because multiple cryptic genetic components often work in concert to elicit an overall chemical phenotype. We now report a rapid pipeline for the discovery of new enzymes of interest from unsequenced bacterial hosts based on laboratory-scale methods for the de novo assembly of bacterial genome sequences using short reads. We have applied this approach to the biomass-degrading soil bacterium Amycolatopsis sp. 75iv2 ATCC 39116 (formerly Streptomyces setonii and S. griseus 75vi2) to discover and biochemically characterize two new heme proteins comprising the most abundant members of the extracellular oxidative system under lignin-reactive growth conditions.

Production and characterization of Acidothermus cellulolyticus endoglucanase in Pichia pastoris

The endoglucanase (E1) from Acidothermus cellulolyticus has been used extensively in cellulase research. The goal of this work was to produce high levels of this enzyme in a system that facilitates purification. A codon-optimized synthetic gene for A. cellulolyticus E1 with a C-terminal histidine tag was cloned into the genome of Pichia pastoris. Strain KM71H expressed the most enzyme, with a yield of 550mg/L culture supernatant. The temperature optimum (80°C) and pH optimum (5.1) of the purified enzyme agree with previously determined values for the enzyme produced in other systems. Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters were determined, using a fluorescent substrate (methylumbelliferyl-β-d-cellobioside) at various temperatures. This thermostable enzyme can be used in future cellulosic biofuels-related research.

Structural genomics and drug discovery

Structure determination has already proven useful for lead optimization and direct drug design. The number of high-resolution structures available in public databases today exceeds 30,000 and will definitely aid in structure-based drug design. Structural genomics approaches covering whole genomes, topologically similar proteins or gene families are great assets for further progress in the development of new drugs. However, membrane proteins representing 70% of current drug targets are poorly characterized structurally. The problems have been related to difficulties in obtaining large amount of recombinant membrane proteins as well as their purification and structure determination. Structural genomics has proven successful in developing new methods in areas from expression to structure determination by studying a large number of target proteins in parallel.

Structural Genomics

Drug discovery based on structural knowledge has proven useful as several structure-based medicines are already on the market. Structural genomics aims at studying a large number of gene products including whole genomes, topologically similar proteins, protein families and protein subtypes in parallel. Particularly, therapeutically relevant targets have been selected for structural genomics initiatives. In this context, integral membrane proteins, which represent 60–70% of the current drug targets, have been of major interest. Paradoxically, membrane proteins present the last frontier to conquer in structural biology as some 100 high resolution structures among the 30,000 entries in public structural databases are available. The modest success rate on membrane proteins relates to the difficulties in their expression, purification and crystallography. To facilitate technology development large networks providing expertise in molecular biology, protein biochemistry and structural biology have been established. The privately funded MePNet program has studied 100 G protein-coupled receptors, which resulted in high level expression of a large number of receptors at structural biology compatible levels. Currently, selected GPCRs have been purified and subjected to crystallization attempts

High yield production of a mutantNippostrongylus brasiliensis acetylcholinesterase inPichia pastoris and its purification

The mutant M301A of the acetylcholinesterase B from Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (NbAChE) was produced in a high-cell-density fermentation of a recombinant methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. Dissolved oxygen (DO) spikes were used as an indicator for feeding the carbon source. Wet cell weight (WCW) reached after 8 days a maximum value of 316 g/L and the OD600 at this time was 280. The acetylcholinesterase activity increased up to 6,600 U/mL corresponding to an expression rate of 2 g of NbAChE per liter supernatant. The specific activity of the mutant NbAChE was determined after purification as 3,300 U/mg. Active site titration with chlorpyrifos, a strong AChE inhibitor, yielded in a specific activity of 3,400 U/mg. The enzyme was secreted by Pichia pastoris. Therefore, it could be concentrated from culture broth by cross-flow-filtration (50 kDa cut-off membrane). It was further purified in one-step anion-exchange chromatography, using a XK 50/20 column filled with 125 mL Q Sepharose HP. Mutant NbAChE was purified 1.9-fold up to a purity of 97% and a yield of 87%. The isolated enzyme was nearly homogenous, as seen on the silver stained SDS-PAGE as well as by a single peak after gel filtration. This extraordinary high expression rate and the ease of purification is an important prerequisite for their practical application, for example in biosensors for the detection of neurotoxic insecticides.

Expression of glycosylated haloalkane dehalogenase LinB in Pichia pastoris

Heterologous expression of the bacterial enzyme haloalkane dehalogenase LinB from Sphingomonas paucimobilis UT26 in methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is reported. The haloalkane dehalogenase gene linB was subcloned into the pPICZalphaA vector and integrated into the genome of P. pastoris. The recombinant LinB secreted from the yeast was purified to homogeneity and biochemically characterized. The deglycosylation experiment and mass spectrometry measurements showed that the recombinant LinB expressed in P. pastoris is glycosylated with a 2.8 kDa size of high mannose core. The specific activity of the glycosylated LinB was 15.6 +/- 3.7 micromol/min/mg of protein with 1,2-dibromoethane and 1.86 +/- 0.36 micromol/min/mg of protein with 1-chlorobutane. Activity and solution structure of the protein produced in P. pastoris is comparable with that of recombinant LinB expressed in Escherichia coli. The melting temperature determined by the circular dichroism (41.7+/-0.3 degrees C for LinB expressed in P. pastoris and 41.8 +/- 0.3 degrees C expressed in E. coli) and thermal stability measured by specific activity to 1-chlorobutane were also similar for two enzymes. Our results show that LinB can be extracellularly expressed in eukaryotic cell and glycosylation had no effect on activity, protein fold and thermal stability of LinB.

Novel plant-microbe rhizosphere interaction involving Streptomyces lydicus WYEC108 and the pea plant (Pisum sativum)

A previously undescribed plant-microbe interaction between a root-colonizing Streptomyces species, S. lydicus WYEC108, and the legume Pisum sativum is described. The interaction is potentially of great importance to the health and growth in nature of this nodulating legume. The root-colonizing soil actinomycete S. lydicus WYEC108 influences pea root nodulation by increasing root nodulation frequency, possibly at the level of infection by Rhizobium spp. S. lydicus also colonizes and then sporulates within the surface cell layers of the nodules. Colonization leads to an increase in the average size of the nodules that form and improves the vigor of bacteroids within the nodules by enhancing nodular assimilation of iron and possibly other soil nutrients. Bacteroid accumulation of the carbon storage polymer, poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate, is reduced in colonized nodules. Root nodules of peas taken from agricultural fields in the Palouse hills of northern Idaho were also found to be colonized by actinomycete hyphae. We hypothesize that root and nodule colonization is one of several mechanisms by which Streptomyces acts as a naturally occurring plant growth-promoting bacterium in pea and possibly other leguminous plants.

Cloning and expression in Pichia pastoris of a blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) beta-mannanase gene

Using PCR, cloning and sequencing techniques, a 1.1-kb complementary DNA fragment encoding for a beta-mannanase (mannan endo-1,4-beta-mannosidase, EC 3.2.1.78) has been identified in the digestive gland of blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. The cDNA sequence shows significant sequence identity to several beta-mannanases in glycoside hydrolase family 5. The beta-mannanase gene has been isolated and sequenced from gill tissue of blue mussel and contains five introns. The beta-mannanase has been expressed extracellularly in Pichia pastoris using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae alpha-factor signal sequence. The beta-mannanase was produced in a 14-L fermenter with an expression level of 900 mg.L-1. The expression level is strongly affected by the induction temperature. A two-step purification procedure, composed of a combination of immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography and ion exchange chromatography, is required to give a pure beta-mannanase. However, due to post-translational modifications, structural varieties regarding molecular mass and isoelectric point were obtained. The specific activity of the purified recombinant M. edulis beta-mannanase was close to that of the wild-type enzyme. Also pH and temperature optima were the same as for the native protein. In conclusion, P. pastoris is regarded as a suitable host strain for the production of blue mussel beta-mannanase. This is the first time a mollusc beta-mannanase has been characterized at the DNA level.

Recombinant protein expression in Pichia pastoris

The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is now one of the standard tools used in molecular biology for the generation of recombinant protein. P. pastoris has demonstrated its most powerful success as a large-scale (fermentation) recombinant protein production tool. What began more than 20 years ago as a program to convert abundant methanol to a protein source for animal feed has been developed into what is today two important biological tools: a model eukaryote used in cell biology research and a recombinant protein production system. To date well over 200 heterologous proteins have been expressed in P. pastoris. Significant advances in the development of new strains and vectors, improved techniques, and the commercial availability of these tools coupled with a better understanding of the biology of Pichia species have led to this microbe's value and power in commercial and research labs alike.