Intracellular poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) depolymerase inAlcaligenes eutrophus

Abstract

The intracellular depolymerization of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) in Alcaligenes eutrophus was investigated. PHB granules of A. eutrophus released D-(−)-3-hydroxybutyrate when incubated at 37 °C. The pH profile of autodigestion of the PHB granules revealed two peaks of activity, one at pH 6–7 and the other at a more alkaline pH. Autodigestion of native PHB granules was inhibited in the presence of Triton X-100. The PHB depolymerase activity was detected in the supernatant from centrifugation at 100 000 × g of the cell extract by using the protease-treated native PHB granules as substrate that lost most of their autodigestive activity. The soluble PHB depolymerase activity increased by about 20-fold or more during PHB synthesis compared with that of PHB-deficient cells, and there was a stringent correlation between PHB content and PHB depolymerase activity in A. eutrophus cells. A soluble PHB depolymerase was partially purified and was inhibited strongly in the presence of diisopropyl fluorophosphate. The pH optimum of the PHB depolymerase in the supernatant fraction was about 8–9. These results indicate that two types of PHB depolymerase may be associated with the native granules, and there was an enzyme with an alkaline pH optimum in the supernatant of the cell extract that seemed to be coregulated with PHB synthesis in the cells.Key words: Alcaligenes eutrophus, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) depolymerase, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) granules, biodegradation.