Cold-adapted Protease Research Articles

Stabilization of Cold-Adapted Protease MCP-01 Promoted by Trehalose: Prevention of the Autolysis

Protease MCP-01 is similar to other cold-adapted enzymes in that it is a cold-adapted serine protease having high specific activity and low thermostability at low and moderate temperature. Its thermolability and self-autolysis has resulted in difficulties in its purification, preservation and research on its structure and function. The disaccharide trehalose is known to effectively stabilize proteins. Its prevention effect on the autolysis of cold-adapted protease MCP-01 was monitored by capillary electrophoresis. In the absence of trehalose, protease MCP-01 autolyzed rapidly at 35 degrees C. However, when trehalose was added, autolysis was remarkably prevented and the loss of activity reduced. MCP-01 may be a useful model for basic research on the interaction of protein and trehalose.

Taste improvement of refrigerated meat treated with cold-adapted Protease

The cold-adapted protease produced by a deep-sea cold-adapted bacterium Pseudoaltermonas sp. SM9913 and the mesophilic protease produced by a mesophilic bacterium Bacillus sp. SM98011 were sprayed onto the surfaces of marine fish, pork and shrimp meat, respectively, and then stored at 0 °C for 6 days. The amounts of free amino acids in the hydrolysates of samples were determined. The results showed that the samples treated with cold-adapted protease released more free amino acids than those treated with mesophilic protease at 0 °C. The refrigerated meat samples treated with cold-adapted protease, released more taste amino acids and essential amino acids than those treated with mesophilic protease. Therefore, the cold-adapted protease had potential in improving the taste of refrigerated meat.

Effects of different buffers on the thermostability and autolysis of a cold-adapted protease MCP-01.

A cold-adapted protease MCP-01 was obtained from deep-sea psychrotrophic bacterium Pseudoaltermonas sp. SM9913. The effects of four different buffers, all at 50 mmol/l concentration, on its thermostability and autolysis were studied. The autolysis process of MCP-01 was studied by capillary electrophoresis. The thermostability of MCP-01 increased successively in the following order: carbonate < Tris < phosphate < borate. The optimum temperature for casein hydrolysis also increased in the same order. This suggested that the conformation of MCP-01 was flexible and its autolytic susceptibility was affected by some factors in the buffers such as charge and ionic species. The results also showed that different buffers, in addition to affecting the autolysis speed, gave different patterns of autolysis products. In carbonate buffer, Tris buffer, phosphate buffer and borate buffer, the autolysis patterns of MCP-01 were different. These results suggested that protease MCP-01 probably have different conformations in different buffers, thus exposing different autolysis sites on the enzyme surface. In addition, the loss of activity correlated with the speed of autolysis in the four different buffers, showing that autolysis may be a reason for the low thermostability of the enzyme.

A cold-adapted protease engineered by experimental evolution system.

A new cold-adapted protease subtilisin BPN' mutant, termed m-51, was successfully isolated by use of an evolutionary program consisting of two-step in vitro random mutagenesis, which we developed for the screening of mutant subtilisins with increased activity at low temperature. The m-51 mutant showed 70% higher catalytic efficiency, expressed by the k(cat)/K(m) value, than the wild-type at 10 degrees C against N-succinyl-L-Ala-L-Ala-L-Pro-L-Phe-p-nitroanilide as a synthetic substrate. This cold-adaptation was achieved mainly by the increase in the k(cat) value in a temperature-dependent manner. Genetic analysis revealed that m-51 had three mutations, Ala-->Thr at position -31 (A-31T) in the prodomain, Ala-->Val at position 88 (A88V), and Ala-->Thr at position 98 (A98T). From kinetic parameters of the purified mutant enzymes, it was found that the A98T mutation led to 30% activity increase, which was enhanced up to 70% by the accompanying neutral mutation A88V. The A-31T mutation severely constrained the autoprocessing-mediated maturation of the pro-subtilisin in the Escherichia coli expression system, thus probably causing an activity-non-detectable mutation in the first step of mutagenesis. No distinct change was observed in the thermal stability of any mutant or in the substrate specificity for m-51. In the molecular models of the two single mutants (A88V and A98T), relatively large displacements of alpha carbon atoms were found around the mutation points. In the model of the double mutant (A88V/A98T), on the other hand, the structural changes around the mutation point counterbalanced each other, and thus no crucial displacements occurred. This mutual effect may be related to the enhanced activity of the double mutant.

Engineering of a cold-adapted protease by sequential random mutagenesis and a screening system.

A cold-adapted protease subtilisin was successfully isolated by evolutionary engineering based on sequential in vitro random mutagenesis and an improved method of screening (H. Kano, S. Taguchi, and H. Momose, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 47:46-51, 1997). The mutant subtilisin, termed m-63, exhibited a catalytic efficiency (expressed as the kcat/Km value) 100% higher than that of the wild type at 10 degrees C when N-succinyl-L-Ala-L-Ala-L-Pro-L-Phe-p-nitroanilide was used as a synthetic substrate. This cold adaptation was achieved with three mutations, Val to Ile at position 72 (V72I), Ala to Thr at position 92 (A92T), and Gly to Asp at position 131 (G131D), and it was found that an increase in substrate affinity (i.e., a decreased Km value) was mostly responsible for the increased activity. Analysis of kinetic parameters revealed that the V72I mutation contributed negatively to the activity but that the other two mutations, A92T and G131D, overcame the negative contribution to confer the 100% increase in activity. Besides suppression of the activity-negative mutation (V72I) by A92T and G131D, suppression of structural stability was observed in measurements of activity retention at 60 degrees C and circular dichroism spectra at 10 degrees C.