Thermophilic Counterparts Research Articles

Adaptational properties and applications of cold-active lipases from psychrophilic bacteria.

Psychrophilic microorganisms are cold-adapted with distinct properties from other thermal classes thriving in cold conditions in large areas of the earth's cold environment. Maintenance of functional membranes, evolving cold-adapted enzymes and synthesizing a range of structural features are basic adaptive strategies of psychrophiles. Among the cold-evolved enzymes are the cold-active lipases, a group of microbial lipases with inherent stability-activity-flexibility property that have engaged the interest of researchers over the years. Current knowledge regarding these cold-evolved enzymes in psychrophilic bacteria proves a display of high catalytic efficiency with low thermal stability, which is a differentiating feature with that of their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts. Improvement strategies of their adaptive structural features have significantly benefited the enzyme industry. Based on their homogeneity and purity, molecular characterizations of these enzymes have been successful and their properties make them unique biocatalysts for various industrial and biotechnological applications. Although, strong association of lipopolysaccharides from Antarctic microorganisms with lipid hydrolases pose a challenge in their purification, heterologous expression of the cold-adapted lipases with affinity tags simplifies purification with higher yield. The review discusses these cold-evolved lipases from bacteria and their peculiar properties, in addition to their potential biotechnological and industrial applications.

Molecular insights into cold active polygalacturonase enzyme for its potential application in food processing.

Pectin is a complex structural heteropolysaccharide that require numerous pectinolytic enzymes for its complete degradation. Polygalacturonase from mesophilic or thermophilic origin are being widely used in fruit and vegetable processing in the recent decades to degrade pectic substances. Recently cold active pectinases are finding added advantages over meso and thermophilic counterparts, to use in industrial scale particularly in food processing industry. They facilitate in conservation of several properties of foods so that the end product retains its naturality and also generates economic benefits. In the present study, Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis, a well reported marine psychrophile is taken as a model organism for cold active polygalacturonase and is evaluated in comparision to the routinely used mesophilic and thermophilic enzymes by insicio approach. Polygalacturonase sequences from industrially important microbial sources were subjected to MEME and Pfam wherein motifs and domains involved in the conservation were analyzed. Dendrogram revealed sequence level similarity and motifs showed uniform distribution of conserved regions that are involved in important functions. It was also observed through clustalW analysis that the amount of arginine content of psychrophiles is less when compared with thermophiles. Finally, all the modeled enzyme structures were subjected to docking studies using Autodock 4.2 with the substrate polygalacturonic acid and binding energies were found to be -5.73, -6.22 and -7.27 KCals/mole for meso, thermo and psychrophiles respectively which indicates the efficiency of psychrophilic enzymes when compared with its counterparts giving scope for further experimentation to find their better usage in various food industry applications.

Cold-active and NaCl-tolerant exo-inulinase from a cold-adapted Arthrobacter sp. MN8 and its potential for use in the production of fructose at low temperatures

An exo-inulinase gene was cloned from Arthrobacter sp. MN8, a cold-adapted bacterium isolated from lead-zinc-rich soil. The gene was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The resultant 505-residue polypeptide (InuAMN8) showed the highest identity (81.1%) with the putative levanase from Arthrobacter phenanthrenivorans Sphe3 (ADX73279) and shared 57.8% identity with the exo-inulinase from Bacillus sp. snu-7 (AAK00768). The purified recombinant InuAMN8 (rInuAMN8) showed an apparently optimal activity at 35°C, and 75.3%, 39.4%, and 15.8% of its maximum activity at 20°C, 10°C, and 0°C, respectively. After pre-incubation for 60 min at 50°C and 55°C, the rInuAMN8 exhibited 69.8% and 17.7% of its initial activity, respectively. The apparent Km values of rInuAMN8 towards inulin were 2.8, 1.5, 1.2, 5.3, and 8.2 mM at 0°C, 10°C, 20°C, 30°C, and 35°C, respectively. Inulin and Jerusalem artichoke tubers were effectively hydrolyzed to release fructose by rInuAMN8 at 0°C, 10°C, and 35°C. Compared with its hyperthermophilic and thermophilic counterparts, the exo-inulinase had less aromatic amino acid F and more hydrophobic amino acid A. In addition, the purified rInuAMN8 retained 127.9%-88.4% inulinase activity at 3.5%-15.0% (w/v) NaCl concentrations. Zn(2+) and Pb(2+) at 10 mM exhibited little or no effect on the enzyme activity. This paper is the first to report a cold-active and/or NaCl-tolerant exo-inulinase from the genus Arthrobacter. The exo-inulinase rInuAMN8 shows a potential for use in the production of fructose at low temperatures.

Effects of Tryptophan Mutation on the Thermal Stability and Catalytic Activity of Cold-Adapted Esterase At Ambient Temperatures

The cold-adapted enzymes display high catalytic activity at low temperatures due to their flexible structure. But, they are susceptible to denaturation by heat at ambient temperatures compared with their mesophilic or thermophilic counterparts. The extracellular esterase, EstK, from cold-adapted Pseudomonas mandelii contains 5Trp residues, whereas its thermophilic homologs EstE1 and AFEST have 2 Trp residues. In this study, the effects of Trp to Phe mutation on the thermal stability and catalytic activity of EstK were investigated. Among 5 Trp residues, W208 contributed to maintaining the thermal stability and an intact conformation of the enzyme. The intramolecular interactions surrounding W208 were also important to maintain the stability and activity of the enzyme. Three additional mutants, W208A, W208K, and W208Y, were generated, and, interestingly, the mutant W208Y showed an 18-fold increase in activity at 20°C and a 12-fold increase at 40°C, compared with the wild-type enzyme. Furthermore, W208Y was resistant to heat treatment at the catalytic site and had enhanced α-helical contents at 40°C, suggesting that the catalytic site of W208Y was stabilized upon substrate binding, while the other parts gained increased flexibility. In summary, the weak thermal stability of cold-adapted enzymes can be enhanced by substitutions such as W208Y, which confer the stability on the catalytic site at ambient temperatures.

Comparative molecular dynamics simulation studies for determining factors contributing to the thermostability of chemotaxis protein “CheY”

Comparative molecular dynamics simulations of chemotaxis protein “CheY” from thermophilic origin Thermotoga maritima and its mesophilic counterpart Salmonella enterica have been performed for 10 ns each at 300 and 350 K, and 20 ns each at 400 and 450 K. The trajectories were analyzed in terms of different factors like root-mean-square deviation, root-mean-square fluctuation, radius of gyration, solvent accessible surface area, H-bonds, salt bridge content, and protein–solvent interactions which indicate distinct differences between the two of them. The two proteins also follow dissimilar unfolding pathways. The overall flexibility calculated by the trace of the diagonalized covariance matrix displays similar flexibility of both the proteins near their optimum growth temperatures. However, at higher temperatures mesophilic protein shows increased overall flexibility than its thermophilic counterpart. Principal component analysis also indicates that the essential subspaces explored by the simulations of two proteins at different temperatures are nonoverlapping and they show significantly different directions of motion. However, there are significant overlaps within the trajectories and similar direction of motions are observed for both proteins at 300 K. Overall, the mesophilic protein leads to increased conformational sampling of the phase space than its thermophilic counterpart. This is the first ever study of thermostability of CheY protein homologs by using protein dynamism as a main impact. Our study might be used as a model for studying the molecular basis of thermostability of two homologous proteins from two organisms living at different temperatures with less visible differences.

Extremophile Enzymatic DNA Repair

Flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) - dependent DNA photolyase repairs UV-damaged DNA by a photo-induced electron transfer reaction, the rate constant of which is exponentially dependent on temperature. However, how this process is adapted to function in extremophiles, inhabiting thermally extreme environments, is currently unknown. To study the temperature dependence of biological electron transfer under extreme conditions, we have produced recombinant DNA photolyases in E.coli from two extremophiles: Sulfolobus solfataricus, a hyperthermophilic archaeon (rSsPL) and Colwellia psychrerythraea, a psychrophilic bacterium (rCpPL). To the best of our knowledge, rCpPL is the first cold-adapted DNA photolyase to be isolated.Both photolyases contain a noncovalently bound FAD molecule and their absorption spectra display unique features of the protein-bound FAD, suggestive of temperature adaptation. Structural modeling of both photolyases revealed unique features related to their respective thermal environments. The repair activity of rSsPL, in vitro, was comparable to E.coli DNA photolyase (EcPL) at ambient temperature, whereas the repair activity of rCpPL appears to be much slower than its mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts. A comparative study of the repair activities of all three photolyases (EcPL, rCpPL and rSsPL) as a function of various physical and chemical parameters such as, temperature, ionic strength, viscosity, and pH is presented. Denaturation studies on rSsPL reveal its extreme stability as compared to rCpPL, which is extremely sensitive to its thermal and chemical environments.

A statistical approach to the optimization of cold‐adapted amylase production by Exiguobacterium sp. SH3

AbstractCold‐adapted enzymes produced by psychrotrophic organisms are interesting from both molecular and biotechnological viewpoints. The enzymes show superior catalytic activity than their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts at room temperature. Therefore, the enzymes seem interesting for applications where high catalytic activity at ambient temperature is required. In this study, the production of cold‐adapted amylase by Exiguobacterium sp. SH3 was optimized and modeled. In the first step, single factor experiments using shake flask cultures were conducted for primary optimization. These experiments resulted in the improvement of amylase production up to 180 U/mL. In the next step, the Plackett–Burman design was used to identify significant factors affecting the amylase production. Starch concentration, tryptone concentration, and temperature were selected as significant factors; while time, shaking, yeast extract, pH, MnCl2, CaCl2, MgCl2, and KH2PO4 were not significant in this step. Finally, the response surface methodology based on central composite design (CCD) was used for further optimization and modeling of the significant factors. The optimization efforts resulted in the maximum amylase production of 730 U/mL, which was four times higher than that achieved by the single‐factor optimization experiments.

Investigation on the Effects of Three X-->Histidine Replacements on Thermostability of alpha-Amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens

Bacillus licheniformis alpha-amylase (BLA), a thermophilic counterpart of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens alpha-amylase (BAA), is an appropriate model for the design of stabilizing mutations in BAA. BLA has 10 more histidines than BAA. Considering this prominent difference, in the present study, three out of these positions (I34, Q67, and P407; located in the thermostability determinant 1 region and Ca-III binding site of BAA) were replaced with histidine in BAA, using the site-directed mutagenesis technique. The results showed that the thermostability of P407H and Q67H mutants had increased, but no significant changes were observed in their kinetic parameters compared to that of the wild type. I34H replacement resulted in complete loss of enzyme activity. Moreover, fluorescence and circular dichroism data indicated a more rigid structure for the P407H variant compared with that of the wild-type BAA. However, the flexibility of Q67H and I34H mutants increased in comparison with that of wild-type enzyme.

Extracellular enzymes produced by microorganisms isolated from maritime Antarctica

Antarctic environments can sustain a great diversity of well-adapted microorganisms known as psychrophiles or psychrotrophs. The potential of these microorganisms as a resource of enzymes able to maintain their activity and stability at low temperature for technological applications has stimulated interest in exploration and isolation of microbes from this extreme environment. Enzymes produced by these organisms have a considerable potential for technological applications because they are known to have higher enzymatic activities at lower temperatures than their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts. A total of 518 Antarctic microorganisms, were isolated during Antarctic expeditions organized by the Instituto Antártico Uruguayo. Samples of particules suspended in air, ice, sea and freshwater, soil, sediment, bird and marine animal faeces, dead animals, algae, plants, rocks and microbial mats were collected from different sites in maritime Antarctica. We report enzymatic activities present in 161 microorganisms (120 bacteria, 31 yeasts and 10 filamentous fungi) isolated from these locations. Enzymatic performance was evaluated at 4 and 20°C. Most of yeasts and bacteria grew better at 20°C than at 4°C, however the opposite was observed with the fungi. Amylase, lipase and protease activities were frequently found in bacterial strains. Yeasts and fungal isolates typically exhibited lipase, celullase and gelatinase activities. Bacterial isolates with highest enzymatic activities were identified by 16S rDNA sequence analysis as Pseudomonas spp., Psychrobacter sp., Arthrobacter spp., Bacillus sp. and Carnobacterium sp. Yeasts and fungal strains, with multiple enzymatic activities, belonged to Cryptococcus victoriae, Trichosporon pullulans and Geomyces pannorum.

Gly or Ala substitutions for Pro210Thr211Asn212 at the β8–β9 turn of subtilisin Carlsberg increase the catalytic rate and decrease thermostability

A comparison of the primary structures among psychrophilic, mesophilic, and thermophilic subtilases revealed that the turn between the β8 and β9 strands (β8–β9 turn, BPN′ numbering) of psychrophilic subtilases are more flexible than those of their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts. To investigate the relationship between structure of this turn and enzyme activity as well as thermostability of mesophilic subtilisin Carlsberg (sC), we analyzed 6 mutants of sC with a single, double, or triple Gly or Ala substitutions for Pro210Thr211Asn212 at the β8–β9 turn. Among the single Gly substitutions, the P210G substitution most significantly (1.5-fold) increased the specific activity on N-succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Phe-p-nitroanilide (AAPF) substrate and 12-fold decreased the thermostability. All mutants tested showed the increased kcat for the AAPF substrate and reduced thermostability compared with the wild-type sC. The kcat values of the P210G, P210G/T211G, and P210G/T211G/N212G mutants were 1.5-, 1.7-, and 1.8-fold higher than that of the wild-type sC. There were significant positive correlations between kcat and thermal inactivation rates as well as kcat and Km of the wild-type and mutants. These results demonstrate that the structure of β8–β9 turn, despite its distance from the active site, has significant effects on the catalytic rate and thermostability of sC through a global network of intramolecular interactions and suggest that the lack of flexibility of this turn stabilizes the wild-type sC against thermal inactivation in compensation for some loss of catalytic activity.

A novel cold-active xylanase gene from the environmental DNA of goat rumen contents: Direct cloning, expression and enzyme characterization

A xylanase-coding gene, xynGR40, was cloned directly from the environmental DNA of goat rumen contents and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The 1446-bp full-length gene encodes a 481-residue polypeptide (XynGR40) containing a catalytic domain belonging to glycosyl hydrolase (GH) family 10. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that XynGR40 was closely related with microbial xylanases of gastrointestinal source. Purified recombinant XynGR40 exhibited high activity at low temperatures, and remained active (∼10% of the activity) even at 0°C. The optimal temperature of XynGR40 was 30°C, much lower than other xylanases from rumen. Compared with mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts, XynGR40 had fewer hydrogen bonds and salt bridges, and lengthened loops in the catalytic domain. The enzyme also had relatively better stability at mesophilic temperatures and a higher catalytic efficiency than other known GH 10 cold active xylanases. These properties suggest that XynGR40 is a novel cold active xylanase and has great potential for basic research and industrial applications.

“Cold spots” in protein cold adaptation: Insights from normalized atomic displacement parameters ( B′-factors)

Many analyses published in the last decade suggest that enzymes isolated from cold-adapted organisms are characterized by a higher flexibility of their molecular structure. Recently, it has been argued that all cold-adapted enzymes with catalytic efficiency greater than that of their mesophilic counterparts display local flexibility or rigidity that are likely to cooperate, each acting on specific areas of the enzyme structure. Here we report an analysis of the normalized thermal B-factor distributions in psychrophilic proteins compared with those of their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts with the aim to detect statistically significant local variations of relative backbone flexibility possibly linked to cold adaptation. We utilized a strategy based mainly on intra-family comparison of local distribution of normalized B-factors. After careful statistical treatment of data, the picture emerging from our results suggests that the distribution of the flexibility in psychrophilic enzymes is locally more heterogeneous than in their respective mesophilic homologues.

Cloning of triose phosphate isomerase gene from an antarctic psychrophilic Pseudomonas sp. by degenerate and splinkerette PCR

Psychrophiles are organisms that thrive in cold environments. One of the strategies for their cold adaptation is the ability to synthesize cold-adapted enzymes. These enzymes usually display higher catalytic efficiency and thermolability at lower temperatures compared to their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts. In this work, a psychrophilic bacterial isolate codenamed π9 was selected for the cloning of the gene encoding triose phosphate isomerase (TIM), an enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, this isolate was identified as a species of the genus Pseudomonas under the P. fluorescens group. The cloning of a 816bp fragment of TIM gene which covers the 756bp open reading frame was achieved by a combination of degenerate and splinkerette PCRs. The partial sequence of this gene was first PCR amplified by using degenerate primers and the flanking sequences were subsequently amplified by splinkerette PCR technique. Amino acid sequence of the cloned TIM was 97% identical to TIM from Pseudomonas fluorescens and shared 51% identity with the TIM from psychrophilic Vibrio sp. This work demonstrated the use of multiple PCR techniques to clone a gene without prior knowledge of its sequence. The cloning of the TIM gene by PCR was more rapid and cost effective compared to the traditional genomic library construction and screening method. Homology model of the TIM protein in this study was generated based on Escherichia coli TIM crystal structure. The model could serve as a hypothetical TIM structure from a psychrophilic microorganism for further investigation into areas that showed deviations from the known mesophilic TIM structures.

Destabilization of psychrotrophic RNase HI in a localized fashion as revealed by mutational and X‐ray crystallographic analyses

The Arg97 --> Gly and Asp136 --> His mutations stabilized So-RNase HI from the psychrotrophic bacterium Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 by 5.4 and 9.7 degrees C, respectively, in T(m), and 3.5 and 6.1 kJ x mol(-1), respectively, in DeltaG(H2O). These mutations also stabilized the So-RNase HI derivative (4x-RNase HI) with quadruple thermostabilizing mutations in an additive manner. As a result, the resultant sextuple mutant protein (6x-RNase HI) was more stable than the wild-type protein by 28.8 degrees C in T(m) and 27.0 kJ x mol(-1) in DeltaG(H2O). To analyse the effects of the mutations on the protein structure, the crystal structure of the 6x-RNase HI protein was determined at 2.5 A resolution. The main chain fold and interactions of the side-chains of the 6x-RNase HI protein were basically identical to those of the wild-type protein, except for the mutation sites. These results indicate that all six mutations independently affect the protein structure, and are consistent with the fact that the thermostabilizing effects of the mutations are roughly additive. The introduction of favourable interactions and the elimination of unfavourable interactions by the mutations contribute to the stabilization of the 6x-RNase HI protein. We propose that So-RNase HI is destabilized when compared with its mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts in a localized fashion by increasing the number of amino acid residues unfavourable for protein stability.

Cloning of glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase from an Antarctic psychrophilic bacterium by inverse and splinkerette PCR

Psychrophiles are organisms that thrive in cold environments. One of the strategies for their cold adaptation is the ability to synthesize cold-adapted enzymes. These enzymes usually display higher catalytic efficiency and thermolability at lower temperatures compared to their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts. In this work, a psychrophilic bacterium codenamed pi9 was selected for the cloning of the gene encoding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), an enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. Here, the cloning of an 1,113 bp fragment of GAPDH gene which covers the 1,002 bp open reading frame by using multiple PCR steps is described. The partial sequence of this gene was PCR amplified by using degenerate primers followed by the cloning of the flanking sequences by inverse and splinkerette PCR techniques. The success in cloning the GAPDH gene by PCR has bypassed the more time consuming genomic library construction and screening method. The full length GAPDH protein was subsequently expressed in E. coli, purified as His-tag protein and confirmed to be catalytically active. This work demonstrated the use of multiple PCR techniques to clone a gene based solely on sequence comparison. It also laid the foundation for further biochemical and structural characterizations of GAPDH from a psychrophilic bacterium by providing a highly purified recombinant protein sample.

Improvement of the Thermostability and Activity of a Pectate Lyase by Single Amino Acid Substitutions, Using a Strategy Based on Melting-Temperature-Guided Sequence Alignment

In the vast number of random mutagenesis experiments that have targeted protein thermostability, single amino acid substitutions that increase the apparent melting temperature (Tm) of the enzyme more than 1 to 2 degrees C are rare and often require the creation of a large library of mutated genes. Here we present a case where a single beneficial mutation (R236F) of a hemp fiber-processing pectate lyase of Xanthomonas campestris origin (PL(Xc)) produced a 6 degrees C increase in Tm and a 23-fold increase in the half-life at 45 degrees C without compromising the enzyme's catalytic efficiency. This success was based on a variation of sequence alignment strategy where a mesophilic amino acid sequence is matched with the sequences of its thermophilic counterparts that have established Tm values. Altogether, two-thirds of the nine targeted single amino acid substitutions were found to have effects either on the thermostability or on the catalytic activity of the enzyme, evidence of a high success rate of mutation without the creation of a large gene library and subsequent screening of clones. Combination of R236F with another beneficial mutation (A31G) resulted in at least a twofold increase in specific activity while preserving the improved Tm value. To understand the structural basis for the increased thermal stability or activity, the variant R236F and A31G R236F proteins and wild-type PL(Xc) were purified and crystallized. By structure analysis and computational methods, hydrophobic desolvation was found to be the driving force for the increased stability with R236F.

Structural Features of a Cold-adapted Alaskan Bacterial Lipase

The three dimensional model of cold-adapted Alaskan psychrotroph Pseudomonas species (Strain B11-1) lipase has been constructed by homology modeling based on the crystal structure of acetyl esterase from Rhodococcus species and refined by molecular dynamics methods. Our model locates the substrate-binding cavity and further suggests that Ser-155, Asp-250, and His-280 are the members of the catalytic triad. Substrate specificity of the modeled lipase has been examined by docking experiments, which indicates that the ester of C6 fatty acid has the highest affinity for the enzyme. Our model also identifies the oxyanion hole that plays an important role in the stabilization of the tetrahedral intermediate during catalysis. Comparison of this cold-adapted lipase with the crystal structure of a thermophilic Bacillus stearothermophilus P1 lipase supported the assumption that cold-adapted enzymes have a more flexible three-dimensional structure than their thermophilic counterparts. The conformational flexibility of this modeled cold-adapted lipase at low temperature probably originates from a combination of factors compared to its thermophilic counterpart, i.e., lower number of salt bridges and cation-π interactions, increase in the non-polar surface area exposed to solvent. Our study may help in understanding the structural features of a cold- adapted lipase and can further be used in engineering lipase that can function at or near extreme temperatures with considerable biotechnological potential.

Environment specific substitution tables for thermophilic proteins

BackgroundThermophilic organisms are able to live at high temperatures ranging from 50 to > 100°C. Their proteins must be sufficiently stable to function under these extreme conditions; however, the basis for thermostability remains elusive. Subtle differences between thermophilic and mesophilic molecules can be found when sequences or structures from homologous proteins are compared, but often these differences are family-specific and few general rules have been derived. The availability of complete genome sequences has now made it feasible to perform a large-scale comparison between mesophilic and thermophilic proteins, the latter of which primarily come from archaeal genomes although a few complete genomes of thermophilic eubacteria are also available.ResultsWe compared mesophilic proteins with their thermophilic counterparts of archaeal or eubacterial origins independently. This was based on the assumption that in these two kingdoms, different mechanisms may have been exploited for the adaptation of proteins at high temperatures. We derived the environment specific amino acid compositions of thermophilic proteins from 10 archaeal and seven eubacterial genomes, by aligning a large number of sequences from thermophilic proteins with their close mesophilic homologues of known three-dimensional (3D) structure. We further analysed environment specific substitutions, which lead from mesophilic proteins to either archaeal or eubacterial thermophilic proteins.ConclusionOur comparisons were based on homology-based structural predictions for a large number of thermophilic proteins. We demonstrated that thermal adaptation in the archaeal and eubacterial kingdoms is achieved in different ways. The main differences concern the usage of Gln, Ile and positively charged amino acids. In particular archaeal organisms appeared to have acquired thermostability by substituting non-charged polar amino acids (such as Gln) with Glu and Lys, and non-polar amino acids with Ile on the surface of proteins.

Cold-active enzymes studied by comparative molecular dynamics simulation

Enzymes from cold-adapted species are significantly more active at low temperatures, even those close to zero Celsius, but the rationale of this adaptation is complex and relatively poorly understood. It is commonly stated that there is a relationship between the flexibility of an enzyme and its catalytic activity at low temperature. This paper gives the results of a study using molecular dynamics simulations performed for five pairs of enzymes, each pair comprising a cold-active enzyme plus its mesophilic or thermophilic counterpart. The enzyme pairs included alpha-amylase, citrate synthase, malate dehydrogenase, alkaline protease and xylanase. Numerous sites with elevated flexibility were observed in all enzymes; however, differences in flexibilities were not striking. Nevertheless, amino acid residues common in both enzymes of a pair (not present in insertions of a structure alignment) are generally more flexible in the cold-active enzymes. The further application of principle component analysis to the protein dynamics revealed that there are differences in the rate and/or extent of opening and closing of the active sites. The results indicate that protein dynamics play an important role in catalytic processes where structural rearrangements, such as those required for active site access by substrate, are involved. They also support the notion that cold adaptation may have evolved by selective changes in regions of enzyme structure rather than in global change to the whole protein.

Life at low temperatures: is disorder the driving force?

The thermodynamic characterization of various biological systems from psychrophiles points to a larger entropic contribution when compared to the corresponding mesophilic or (hyper) thermophilic counterparts, either at the level of the macromolecules (thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities) or of their function (ligand binding, catalytic activity). It is suggested here that in an environment characterized by a low heat content (enthalpy) and at temperatures that strongly slowdown molecular motions, the cold-adapted biological systems rely on a larger disorder to maintain macromolecular dynamics and function. Such pre-eminent involvement of entropy is observed in the experimental results and, from a macroscopic point of view, is also reflected for instance by the steric hindrances introduced by cis-unsaturated and branched lipids to maintain membrane fluidity, by the loose conformation of psychrophilic proteins or by the local destabilization of tRNA by dihydrouridine in psychrophilic bacteria.