Cold-active Lipase Research Articles

A gene encoding a new cold-active lipase from an Antarctic isolate of Penicillium expansum

Cold-active lipases are of significant interest as biocatalysts in industrial processes. We have identified a lipase that displayed activity towards long carbon-chain-p-nitrophenyl substrates (C12-C18) at 25 °C from the culture supernatant of an Antarctic Penicillium expansum strain assigned P. expansum SM3. Zymography revealed a protein band of around 30 kDa with activity towards olive oil. DNA fragments of a lipase gene designated as lipPE were isolated from the genomic DNA of P. expansum SM3 by genomic walking PCR. Subsequently, the complete genomic lipPE gene was amplified using gene-specific primers designed from the 5'- and 3'-regions. Reverse transcription PCR was used to amplify the lipPE cDNA. The deduced amino acid sequence consisted of 285 residues that included a predicted signal peptide. Three peptides identified by LC/MS/MS analysis of the proteins in the culture supernatant of P. expansum were also present in the deduced amino acid sequence of the lipPE gene suggesting that this gene encoded the lipase identified by initial zymogram activity analysis. Full analysis of the nucleotide and the deduced amino acid sequences indicated that the lipPE gene encodes a novel P. expansum lipase. The lipPE gene was expressed in E. coli for further characterization of the enzyme with a view of assessing its suitability for industrial applications.

Characterization of a cold-active lipase from Psychrobacter cryohalolentis K5T and its deletion mutants

A gene coding for cold-active lipase from the psychrotrophic Gram-negative bacterium Psychrobacter cryohalolentis K5(T) isolated from a Siberian cryopeg has been cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant protein Lip1Pc with a 6× histidine tag at its C-terminus was purified by nickel affinity chromatography. With p-nitrophenyl dodecanoate (C12) as a substrate, the purified recombinant protein displayed maximum lipolytic activity at 25°C and pH 8.0. Increasing the temperature above 40°C and addition of various metal ions and organic solvents inhibited the enzymatic activity of Lip1Pc. Most nonionic detergents, such as Triton X-100 and Tween 20, slightly increased the lipase activity, while SDS completely inhibited it. To investigate the functional significance of the Lip1Pc N-terminal domain, we constructed five deletion mutants of this protein. The ND1 and ND2 mutants displayed specific activity reduced by 30-35%, while other truncated proteins were completely inactive. Both mutants demonstrated increased activity towards p-nitrophenyl decanoate (C10) and impaired utilization of C16 substrate. Although optimum reaction temperature of ND2 lowered to 20°C, it displayed enhanced stability by 44% after incubation at 40°C. The results prove that the N-terminal domain of Lip1Pc has a fundamental impact on the activity and stability of the protein.

Optimization of Cold-Active Lipase Production from Psychrophilic BacteriumMoritellasp. 2-5-10-1 by Statistical Experimental Methods

Statistical experimental designs were applied to optimize cold-active lipase production by the psychrophilic bacterium Moritella sp. 2-5-10-1. First, a Plackett-Burmen design (PBD) was used to evaluate the significant effects of various fermentation parameters. The results indicated that soybean meal, temperature, and Tween-80 had significant influences on lipase production. The levels of these variables were optimized subsequently using central composite design (CCD). A quadratic regression model of cold-active lipase production was built, and verification experiments confirmed its validity. On subsequent scale-up in a 10-L bioreactor using optimized conditions, cold-active lipase production (30.56 U/mL) was obtained. The results clearly indicated that the model was adequate even on a large scale. To our knowledge, this is the first report of statistical optimization of cold-active lipase production by a psychrophilic bacterium.

Optimization of Culture Conditions for Production of a Novel Cold-Active Lipase from Pichia lynferdii NRRL Y-7723

Lipases with abnormal properties such as thermostability, alkalinity, acidity, and cold activity receive industrial attention because of their usability under restricted reaction conditions. Most microbial cold-active lipases originate from psychrotrophic and psychrophilic microorganisms found in Antarctic regions, which has led to difficulties in the practical production of cold-active lipase. Recently, a mesophilic yeast, Pichia lynferdii NRRL Y-7723, was reported to produce a novel cold-active lipase. This study focused on optimization of environmental factors, while giving particular attention to the relationships between given factors and incubation time, to maximize the production of a novel cold-active lipase from P. lynferdii NRRL Y-7723. Maximum lipase production was highly dependent on the incubation time at a given environmental factor. Lipase production varied with incubation time at a given temperature, and 20 °C was selected as the optimum temperature for lipase production. Fructose was selected as the best carbon source, and maximum lipase production was obtained when it was present at 0.7% (w/v). Yeast extract was an efficient organic nitrogen source, with maximum lipase production occurring at 0.9% (w/v). Specifically, at the optimum yeast extract level the lipase production was >10 times higher than the productivity under standard conditions. All natural oils tested showed lipase production, but their maximum productivities varied according to incubation time and oil species.

Expression and Characterization of a Novel Enantioselective Lipase from Aspergillus fumigatus

A 1,080-bp cDNA (CGMCC 2873) encoding of a cold-active lipase of Aspergillus fumigatus (AFL67) was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli for the first time. The new lipase, AFL67, was one-step purified by 8.30 folds through Ni-NTA affinity chromatography with a recovery of 86.8 %. The specific activity of purified AFL67 was 449 U mg(-1) on p-NP hexanoate. AFL67 preferentially hydrolyzed p-nitrophenyl esters of short- and medium-chain fatty acids, with p-nitrophenyl hexanoate the maximum. The optimum temperature and pH was 15 °C and 7.5, respectively. The purified AFL67 was stable at 10-25 °C for 30 min, and in the pH range of 6.0-9.0 for 16 h (at 4 °C). Its activity was increased by 47 and 50 %, in the presence of 10 % (v/v) ethanol and isopropanol, respectively. The new lipase AFL67 highly enantioselectively deacylated (S)-α-acetoxyphenylacetic acid (APA) and o-Cl-APA, m-Cl-APA, and p-Cl-APA to (S)-mandelic acid and its derivates. These features render this cold-active novel lipase AFL67 attractive for biotechnological applications in the field of enantioselective synthesis of chiral mandelic acids, o-acylated mandelic acids, and their derivates and detergent additives.

Synthesis of monoacylglycerol containing pinolenic acid via stepwise esterification using a cold active lipase

High purity monoacylglycerol (MAG) containing pinolenic acid was synthesized via stepwise esterification of glycerol and fatty acids from pine nut oil using a cold active lipase from Penicillium camembertii as a biocatalyst. Effects of temperature, molar ratio, water content, enzyme loading, and vacuum on the synthesis of MAG by lipase-catalyzed esterification of glycerol and fatty acid from pine nut oil were investigated. Diacylglycerol (DAG) as well as MAG increased significantly when temperature was increased from 20 to 40 °C. At a molar ratio of 1:1, MAG content decreased because of the significant increase in DAG content. Water has a profound influence on both MAG and DAG content through the entire course of reaction. The reaction rate increased significantly as enzyme loading increased up to 600 units. Vacuum was an effective method to reduce DAG content. The optimum temperature, molar ratio, water content, enzyme loading, vacuum, and reaction time were 20 °C, 1:5 (fatty acid to glycerol), 2%, 600 units, 5 torr, and 24 h, respectively. MAG content further increased via lipase-catalyzed second step esterification at subzero temperature. P. camembertii lipase exhibited esterification activity up to -30 °C.

Thermal stabilization of psychrophilic enzymes: A case study of the cold‐active hormone‐sensitive lipase from Psychrobacter sp. TA144

Cold-adapted enzymes possess high specific activity at low and moderate temperatures with respect to their mesophilic and thermophilic homologs; it is accepted that they have a less rigid and more flexible structure in the region surrounding the active site. However, the low stability of such molecules could represent the main barrier for their application in some industrial bioprocesses. The aim of this article was to investigate the ability of the naturally occurring osmolytes to increase the thermal stability and the specific activity of the cold-active lipase from Psychrobacter sp. TA144 (PsyHSL), which belongs to the hormone-sensitive lipase group. The effect of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), betaine, and L-proline addition on the activity and thermal stability of PsyHSL was investigated by means of biochemical and biophysical techniques. It turned out that in the presence of 3 M TMAO, the enzyme specific activity enhanced up to 250% at 50°C, while the addition of 1 M TMAO increased the thermostability fivefold at 45°C. Our experiments demonstrated that, even in the case of a psychrophilic enzyme, osmoprotectants, particularly TMAO, addition may be considered an efficient strategy to improve the protein thermal stability and specific activity at higher temperatures.

Purification and biochemical characterization of a cold-active lipase from Antarctic sea ice bacteria Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ 70

An extracellular cold-active lipase from Antarctic sea ice bacteria Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ 70 was purified and characterized. The overall purification based on lipase activity was 27.5-fold with a yield of 25.4 %. The purified lipase showed as a single band on SDS-PAGE with an apparent molecular weight of 37 kDa. The optimum temperature and pH were 35 °C and 7.0, respectively. The lipase activity was enhanced by Ca(2+) and Mg(2+), while was partially inhibited by other metals such as Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Ba(2+), Pb(2+), Fe(2+) and Mn(2+). The lipase had high tolerance to a wide range of NaCl concentrations (0-2 M NaCl). It exhibited high levels of activity in the presence of DTT, Thiourea, H(2)O(2) as well as in the presence of various detergents such as Span 60, Tween-80, Triton X-100. In addition, the lipase showed a preference for long-chain p-nitrophenyl esters (C(12)-C(18)). These results indicated that this lipase could be a novel cold-active lipase.

Extracellular solvent stable cold-active lipase from psychrotrophic Bacillus sphaericus MTCC 7526: partial purification and characterization

Psychrotropic Bacillus sphaericus producing solvent stable cold-active lipase upon growth at low temperature was isolated from Gangotri glacier. Optimal parameters for lipase production were investigated and the strain was able to produce lipase even at 15 °C. An incubation period of 48 h and pH 8 was found to be conducive for cold-active lipase production. The addition of trybutyrin as substrate and lactose as additional carbon source increased lipase production. The enzyme was purified up to 17.74-fold by ammonium sulphate precipitation followed by DEAE cellulose column chromatography. The optimum temperature and pH for lipase activity were found to be 15 °C and 8.0, respectively. The lipase was found to be stable in the temperature range 20–30 °C and the pH range 6.0–9.0. The protein retained more than 83 % of its initial activity after exposure to organic solvents. The lipase exhibited significant stability in presence of acetone and DMSO retaining >90 % activity. The enzyme activity was inhibited by 10 mM CuSO4 and EDTA but showed no loss in activity after incubation with other metals or inhibitors examined in this study.

Extracellular cold-active lipase of Microbacterium luteolum isolated from Gangotri glacier, western Himalaya: Isolation, partial purification and characterization

A psychrophilic bacterium producing cold-active lipase upon growth at low temperature was isolated from the soil samples of Gangotri glacier and identified as Microbacterium luteolum . The bacterial strain produced maximum lipase at 15 °C, at a pH of 8.0. Beef extract served as the best organic nitrogen source and ammonium nitrate as inorganic for maximum lipase production. Castor oil served as an inducer and glucose served as an additional carbon source for production of cold-active lipase. Ferric chloride as additional mineral salt in the medium, highly influenced the lipase production with an activity of 8.01 U ml −1 . The cold-active lipase was purified to 35.64-fold by DEAE-cellulose column chromatography. It showed maximum activity at 5 °C and thermostability up to 35 °C. The purified lipase was stable between pH 5 and 9 and the optimal pH for enzymatic hydrolysis was 8.0. Lipase activity was stimulated in presence of all the solvents (5%) tested except with acetonitrile. Lipase activity was inhibited in presence of Mn 2+ , Cu 2+ , and Hg 2+ ; whereas Fe + , Na + did not have any inhibitory effect on the enzyme activity. The purified lipase was stable in the presence of SDS; however, EDTA and dithiothreitol inhibited enzyme activity. Presence of Ca 2+ along with inhibitors stabilized lipase activity. The cold active lipase thus exhibiting activity and stability at a low temperature and alkaline pH appears to be practically useful in industrial applications especially in detergent formulations.

Differential induction, purification and characterization of cold active lipase from Yarrowia lipolytica NCIM 3639

The production, purification and characterization of cold active lipases by Yarrowia lipolytica NCIM 3639 is described. The study presents a new finding of production of cell bound and extracellular lipase activities depending upon the substrate used for growth. The strain produced cell bound and extracellular lipase activity when grown on olive oil and Tween 80, respectively. The organism grew profusely at 20°C and at initial pH of 5.5, producing maximum extracellular lipase. The purified lipase has a molecular mass of 400kDa having 20 subunits forming a multimeric native protein. Further the enzyme displayed an optimum pH of 5.0 and optimum temperature of 25°C. Peptide mass finger printing reveled that some peptides showed homologues sequence (42%) to Yarrowia lipolytica LIP8p. The studies on hydrolysis of racemic lavandulyl acetate revealed that extracellular and cell bound lipases show preference over the opposite antipodes of irregular monoterpene, lavandulyl acetate.

A Novel Cold-Active Lipase from Candida albicans: Cloning, Expression and Characterization of the Recombinant Enzyme

A novel lipase gene lip5 from the yeast Candida albicans was cloned and sequenced. Alignment of amino acid sequences revealed that 86–34% identity exists with lipases from other Candida species. The lipase and its mutants were expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris, where alternative codon usage caused the mistranslation of 154-Ser and 293-Ser as leucine. 154-Ser to leucine resulted in loss of expression of Lip5, and 293-Ser to leucine caused a marked reduction in the lipase activity. Lip5-DM, which has double mutations that revert 154 and 293 to serine residues, showed good lipase activity, and was overexpressed and purified by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography. The pure Lip5-DM was stable at low temperatures ranging from 15–35 °C and pH 5–9, with the optimal conditions being 15–25 °C and pH 5–6. The activation energy of recombinant lipase was 8.5 Kcal/mol between 5 and 25 °C, suggesting that Lip5-DM was a cold–active lipase. Its activity was found to increase in the presence of Zn2+, but it was strongly inhibited by Fe2+, Fe3+, Hg2+ and some surfactants. In addition, the Lip5-DM could not tolerate water-miscible organic solvents. Lip5-DM exhibited a preference for the short-and medium-chain length p-nitrophenyl (C4 and C8 acyl group) esters rather than the long chain length p-nitrophenyl esters (C12, C16 and C18 acyl group) with highest activity observed with the C8 derivatives. The recombinant enzyme displayed activity toward triacylglycerols, such as olive oil and safflower oil.

Production of Cold-Active Bacterial Lipases through Semisolid State Fermentation Using Oil Cakes

Production of cold active lipase by semisolid state fermentation involves the use of agroindustrial residues. In the present study, semisolid state fermentation was carried out for the production of cold active lipase using Micrococcus roseus, isolated from soil samples of Gangotri glaciers, Western Himalayas. Among various substrate tested, groundnut oil cake (GOC) favored maximal yield of lipases at 15 ± 1°C within 48 h. Supplementation of glucose 1% (w/v) as additional carbon source and ammonium nitrate 2% (w/v) as additional nitrogen source enhanced production of lipase. Addition of triglycerides 0.5% (v/v) tends to repress the lipase production. Further mixed preparation of groundnut oil cake (GOC) along with mustard oil cake (MOC) in the ratio of 1 : 1, and its optimization resulted in improved production of cold active lipase. The enzyme exhibited maximum activity at 10–15°C and was stable at temperatures lower than 30°C. The lipase exhibited optimum activity at pH 8 and showed more than 60% stability at pH 9. Semisolid state fermentation process by utilizing agroindustrial wastes will direct to large-scale commercialization of lipase catalyzed process in cost-effective systems.

Effects of co-expression of molecular chaperones on heterologous soluble expression of the cold-active lipase Lip-948

The cold-active lipase gene Lip-948, cloned from Antarctic psychrotrophic bacterium Psychrobacter sp. G, was ligated into plasmid pColdI. The recombinant plasmid pColdI + Lip-948 was then transformed into Escherichia coli BL21. SDS–PAGE analysis showed that there was substantive expression of lipase LIP-948 in E. coli with a yield of about 39% of total protein, most of which was present in the inclusion body. The soluble protein LIP-948 only consisted of 1.7% of total LIP-948 with a specific activity of 66.51 U/mg. Co-expression of molecular chaperones with the pColdI + Lip-948 were also carried out. The results showed that co-expression of different chaperones led to an increase or decrease in the formation of soluble LIP-948 in varying degrees. Co-expression of pColdI + Lip-948 with chaperone pTf16 and pGro7 decreased the amount of soluble LIP-948, while the soluble expression was enhanced when pColdI + Lip-948 was co-expressed with “chaperone team” plasmids (pKJE7, pG-Tf2, pG-KJE8), respectively. LIP-948 was most efficiently expressed in soluble form when it was co-expressed with pG-KJE8, which was up to 19.8% of intracellular soluble proteins and with a specific activity of 108.77 U/mg. The soluble LIP-948 was purified with amylase affinity chromatography and its enzymatic characters were studied. The optimal temperature and pH of LIP-948 was 35 °C and 8, respectively. The activity of LIP-948 dropped dramatically after incubation at 50 °C for 15 min and was enhanced by Sr 2+, Ca 2+. It preferentially hydrolyzed 4-nitrophenyl esters with the shorter carbon chain.

Enzymatic synthesis of structured lipids using a novel cold-active lipase from Pichia lynferdii NRRL Y-7723

Abstract Structured lipids (SL) were synthesized by the acidolysis of borage oil with caprylic acid using lipases. Six commercial lipases from different sources and a novel lipase from Pichia lynferdii NRRL Y-7723 were screened for their acidolysis activities and Lipozyme RM IM and NRRL Y-7723 lipase were selected to synthesize symmetrical SL since recently NRRL Y-7723 lipase was identified as a novel cold-active lipase. Both lipases showed 1,3-regiospecifity toward the glycerol backbone of borage oil. The effects of enzyme loading and temperature on caprylic acid incorporation into the borage oil were investigated. For Lipozyme RM IM and NRRL Y-7723 lipase, the incorporation of caprylic acid increased as enzyme loading increased up to 4% of total weight of the substrate, but significant increases were not observed when enzyme loading was further increased. The activity of NRRL Y-7723 lipase was higher than that of Lipozyme RM IM in the temperature range between 10 and 20 °C.

Production of a Novel Cold-Active Lipase fromPichia lynferdiiY-7723

Lipase (triacylglycerol acylhydrolases, E.C. 3.1.1.3) is one of the most important enzymes applied to a broad range of industrial application fields. Especially, lipases with abnormal functionality such as thermostability and alkaline, acidic, and cold activities gain special attention because of their applicability in the restricted reaction conditions. In this study, 16 yeast strains prescreened for lipase induction were investigated for their actual lipase production, and we found a novel cold-active lipase produced from Pichia lynferdii Y-7723. The activity of lipase Y-7723 was retained by 74 and 70% at 20 and 10 degrees C, respectively, as compared to the maximum value at 35 degrees C. On the basis of an optimization study, the optimal lipase productivity was obtained at 96 h of incubation with 3% oil substrate in a medium composed of sucrose as a carbon source at pH 7.0. Among carbon sources tested, sucrose showed almost twice as high of a lipase production (184%) as the control, while the cell growth was similar (105%). Yeast extract and ammonium salts were effective as individual nitrogen sources for lipase production. This study demonstrated that the cold activity of lipase Y-7723 at 10 degrees C was highest among the cold-active lipases reported so far.

Evolution of Stability in a Cold-Active Enzyme Elicits Specificity Relaxation and Highlights Substrate-Related Effects on Temperature Adaptation

Molecular aspects of thermal adaptation of proteins were studied by following the co-evolution of temperature dependence, conformational stability, and substrate specificity in a cold-active lipase modified via directed evolution. We found that the evolution of kinetic stability was accompanied by a relaxation in substrate specificity. Moreover, temperature dependence and selectivity turned out to be mutually dependent. While the wild-type protein was strictly specific for short-chain triglycerides (C4) in the temperature range 10–50 °C and displayed highest activity in the cold, its stabilized variant was able to accept C8 and C12 molecules and its selectivity was temperature dependent. We could not detect any improvement in the overall structural robustness of the mutant when the structure was challenged by temperature or chemical denaturants. There is, however, strong evidence for local stabilization effects in the active-site region provided by two independent approaches. Differential scanning fluorimetry revealed that the exposure of hydrophobic patches (as the active site is) precedes denaturation, and molecular dynamics simulations confirmed that stability was obtained by restriction of the mobility of the lid, a flexible structure that regulates the access to the enzyme active site and influences its stability. This reduction of lid movements is suggested to be accompanied by a concomitant increase in the mobility of other protein regions, thus accounting for the observed broadening of substrate specificity.

Genomics of deep‐sea and sub‐seafloor microbes

Over two‐thirds of the surface of the earth is covered by oceans, which have an average depth of about 3800 m. As each drop of ocean water contains > 105 cells, the > 1030 microbial cells in the ocean represent the largest reservoir of microbes on earth (Whitman et al., 1998). Communities of bacteria, archaea, protists and unicellular fungi account for most of the oceanic biomass and metabolism. Marine microbes are known to play an essential role in the global cycling of nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, phosphorous, iron, sulfur and trace elements (Karl, 2007).

Cloning and characterization of a new cold-active lipase from a deep-sea sediment metagenome

To search for new cold-active lipases, a metagenomic library was constructed using cold-sea sediment samples at Edison Seamount and was screened for lipolytic activities by plating on a tricaprylin medium. Subsequently, a fosmid clone was selected, and the whole sequence of 36 kb insert of the fosmid clone was determined by shotgun sequencing. The sequence analysis revealed the presence of 25 open reading frames (ORF), and ORF20 (EML1) showed similarities to lipases. Phylogenetic analysis of EML1 suggested that the protein belonged to a new family of esterase/lipase together with LipG. The EML1 gene was expressed in Escherichia coli, and purified by metal-chelating chromatography. The optimum activity of the purified EML1 (rEML1) occurred at pH 8.0 and 25 degrees C, respectively, and rEML1 displayed more than 50% activity at 5 degrees C. The activation energy for the hydrolysis of olive oil was determined to be 3.28 kcal/mol, indicating that EML1 is a cold-active lipase. rEML1 preferentially hydrolyzed triacylglycerols acyl-group chains with long chain lengths of > or = 8 carbon atoms and displayed hydrolyzing activities toward various natural oil substrates. rEML1 was resistant to various detergents such as Triton X-100 and Tween 80. This study represents an example which developed a new cold-active lipase from a deep-sea sediment metagenome.

Purification and characterization of cold active lipase from psychrotrophic Microbacterium phyllosphaerae

Purification and characterization of cold active lipase from psychrotrophic Microbacterium phyllosphaerae