Production Of Alginate Oligosaccharides Research Articles

Purification and characterisation of a bifunctional alginate lyase from novel Isoptericola halotolerans CGMCC 5336

A novel halophilic alginate-degrading microorganism was isolated from rotten seaweed and identified as Isoptericola halotolerans CGMCC5336. The lyase from the strain was purified to homogeneity by combining of ammonium sulfate fractionation and anion-exchange chromatography with a specific activity of 8409.19U/ml and a recovery of 25.07%. This enzyme was a monomer with a molecular mass of approximately 28kDa. The optimal temperature and pH were 50°C and pH 7.0, respectively. The lyase maintained stability at neutral pH (7.0–8.0) and temperatures below 50°C. Metal ions including Na+, Mg2+, Mn2+, and Ca2+ notably increased the activity of the enzyme. With sodium alginate as the substrate, the Km and Vmax were 0.26mg/ml and 1.31mg/ml min, respectively. The alginate lyase had substrate specificity for polyguluronate and polymannuronate units in alginate molecules, indicating its bifunctionality. These excellent characteristics demonstrated the potential applications in alginate oligosaccharides production with low polymerisation degrees.

Vibrio sp. PKA 1003의 알긴산 분해 조효소 생산 최적 조건과 조효소의 특성

This study was conducted to screen the characteristics and alginate-degrading activity of marine bacterium isolated from brown seaweed (Sargassum thunbergii). The results of 16S ribosomal RNA sequence analysis the strain the genus Vibrio and the strain was subsequently named Vibrio sp. PKA 1003. The optimum culture conditions for the growth of Vibrio sp. PKA 1003 were at pH 7, 3% NaCl, , and 6% alginic acid, with a 48-hour incubation time. A crude enzyme preparation from Vibrio sp. PKA 1003, showed its highest levels of alginate-degradation activity when cultured at pH 9, , and 6% alginic acid, with a 63-hour incubation time. Thin layer chromatography analyses confirmed that the crude enzyme released monomers or oligomers from sodium alginate, and results from trypsin treatment showed that the alginate degrading activity depends on this enzyme produced by Vibrio sp. PKA 1003. These results suggest that Vibrio sp. PKA 1003 and its alginate-degrading crude enzyme is useful for the production of alginate oligosaccharides.

Augmented production of alginate oligosaccharides by the Pseudomonas mendocina NK-01 mutant

Pseudomonas mendocina NK-01 can simultaneously synthesize medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHAMCL) and alginate oligosaccharides (AO) from glucose under conditions of limited nitrogen. In this study, the PHAMCL synthesis pathway was blocked by a deletion of approximately 57% of the sequence of PHA synthase operon mediated by the suicide plasmid, pEX18TcC1ZC2Amp. Deletion of the PHA synthase operon in P. mendocina NK-01 was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and antibiotic resistance assays to form the gene knockout mutant, P. mendocina C7. Shake-flask and 30L fermentor cultures of P. mendocina C7 showed a 2.21-fold and 2.64-fold accumulation of AO from glucose, respectively, compared with the wild-type strain. Mass spectrometry and gel permeation chromatography characterization revealed that P. mendocina C7 and P. mendocina NK-01 produced AO were identical in terms of monomer composition and average molecular weight (MW). Thus, the mutant P. mendocina C7 has potential use in large scale fermentation of AO. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the PHAMCL and AO synthesis pathways compete for the use of carbon sources in P. mendocina NK-01.

Catalytically important amino-acid residues of abalone alginate lyase HdAly assessed by site-directed mutagenesis

Alginate lyase is an enzyme that degrades alginate chains via β-elimination and has been used for the production of alginate oligosaccharides and protoplasts from brown algae. Previously, we deduced the amino-acid sequence of an abalone alginate lyase, HdAly, from its cDNA sequence and, through multiple amino-acid sequence alignment, found that several basic amino-acid residues were highly conserved among the polysaccharide-lyase family 14 (PL-14) enzymes including HdAly. In the present study, we assessed the functional importance of the conserved basic amino-acid residues in HdAly by using site-directed mutants that were produced with a cold-inducible yeast expression system consisting of an expression vector pLTex321sV5H and a host Saccharomyces cerevisiae BY4743. At first, we prepared wild-type HdAly with the yeast expression system and confirmed that this recombinant possesses nearly the same properties as native HdAly with respect to specific activity (1300 U/mg), optimal pH (7.8), optimal temperature (35 °C), and protoplast-producing ability from the brown alga Laminaria japonica. Then, we prepared a series of site-directed mutants by replacing the conserved basic amino-acid residues of HdAly with Ala and determined the alginate-degrading activity of these mutants. As a result, we found that the replacement of Lys95 caused complete inactivation of HdAly and those of Arg92, Arg110, and Arg119 caused 65% or more inactivation. These results indicate that the region spanning Arg92 to Arg119 is closely related to the catalytic activity of HdAly.