Substrate Report for: 1-Naphtyldodecanoate

In this study, we report the characterization of a protein from Aspergillus oryzae, exhibiting sequence identity with paraben esterase from the genus Aspergillus. The coding region of 1,586 bp, including a 77-bp intron, encoded a protein of 502 amino acids. The gene without the signal peptide of 19 amino acids was cloned into a vector, pPICZalphaC, and expressed successfully in Pichia pastoris as an active extracellular protein. The purified recombinant protein had pH and temperature optima of 7.0-8.0 and 30 degrees C, respectively, and was stable at the pH range of 7.0-10.0 and up to 40 degrees C. The optimal substrate for hydrolysis by the purified recombinant protein, among a panel of alpha-naphthyl esters (C2-C16), was alpha-naphthyl butyrate (C4), with activity of 0.16 units/mg protein. The considerable hydrolytic activity of the purified recombinant enzyme toward tributyrin was determined. However, no paraben esterase activity was detected toward the ethyl, propyl, and butyl esters of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid. In addition, no activity was detected toward the methyl esters of ferulic, p-coumaric, caffeic, and sinapic acids that would indicate feruloyl esterase activity.

The use of metagenomic techniques for enzyme discovery constitutes a powerful approach. Functional screens, in contrast to sequence homology search, enable us to select enzymes based on their activity. It is noteworthy that they additionally guarantee the identification of genes coding for enzymes that exhibited no sequence similarity to known counterparts from public databases and that even do not match any putative catalytic residues, involved in the selected catalytic function. Therefore, this strategy not only provides new enzymes for new biotechnological applications, but also allows functional assignment of many proteins, found in abundance in the databases, currently designated as "hypothetical" or "conserved hypothetical" proteins. In the past decade, there has been an exponential increase in the design of functional screening programmes, the majority of them established for hydrolases and oxidoreductases. Here, functional screening methods that guarantee the greatest enzyme diversity, for mining esterases and lipases, are described.

We purified to homogeneity an intracellular esterase from the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. The enzyme hydrolyzes p-nitrophenyl acetate and other acetylated substrates. The N-terminal amino acid sequence was analyzed and 11 residues, SEPLILDAPNA, were determined. The corresponding gene PA3859 was identified in the P. aeruginosa PAO1 genome as the only gene encoding for a protein with this N-terminus. The encoding gene was cloned in Escherichia coli, and the recombinant protein expressed and purified to homogeneity. According to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis and analytical gel filtration chromatography, the esterase was found to be a monomer of approximately 24 kDa. The experimentally determined isoelectric point was 5.2 and the optimal enzyme activity was at 55 degrees C and at pH 9.0. The esterase preferentially hydrolyzed short-chain fatty acids. It is inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) but not by ethylendiaminotetraacetic acid (EDTA). Native enzyme preparations typically showed a Michaelis constant (K(m)) and V(max) of 0.43 mM and 12,500 U mg(-1), respectively, using p-nitrophenyl acetate as substrate. Homology-based database searches clearly revealed the presence of the consensus GXSXG signature motif that is present in the serine-dependent acylhydrolase protein family.