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Thermostable glucose isomerases are desirable for production of 55% fructose syrups at >90 degrees C. Current commercial enzymes operate only at 60 degrees C to produce 45% fructose syrups. Protein engineering to construct more stable enzymes has so far been relatively unsuccessful, so this review focuses on elucidation of the thermal inactivation pathway as a future guide. The primary and tertiary structures of 11 Class 1 and 20 Class 2 enzymes are compared. Within each class the structures are almost identical and sequence differences are few. Structural differences between Class 1 and Class 2 are less than previously surmised. The thermostabilities of Class 1 enzymes are essentially identical, in contrast to previous reports, but in Class 2 they vary widely. In each class, thermal inactivation proceeds via the tetrameric apoenzyme, so metal ion affinity dominates thermostability. In Class 1 enzymes, subunit dissociation is not involved, but there is an irreversible conformational change in the apoenzyme leading to a more thermostable inactive tetramer. This may be linked to reversible conformational changes in the apoenzyme at alkaline pH arising from electrostatic repulsions in the active site, which break a buried Arg-30-Asp-299 salt bridge and bring Arg-30 to the surface. There is a different salt bridge in Class 2 enzymes, which might explain their varying thermostability. Previous protein engineering results are reviewed in light of these insights.

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A mutant ribitol dehydrogenase (RDH-F) was purified from Klebsiella aerogenes strain F which evolved from the wild-type strain A under selective pressure to improve growth on xylitol, a poor substrate used as sole carbon source. The ratio of activities on xylitol (500 mM) and ribitol (50 mM) was 0.154 for RDH-F compared to 0.033 for the wild-type (RDH-A) enzyme. The complete amino acid sequence of RDH-F showed the mutations. Q60 for E60 and V215 for L215 in the single polypeptide chain of 249 amino acid residues. Structural modeling based on homologies with two other microbial dehydrogenases suggests that E60 --> Q60 is a neutral mutation, since it lies in a region far from the catalytic site and should not cause structural perturbations. In contrast, L215 --> V215 lies in variable region II and would shift a loop that interacts with the NADH cofactor. Another improved ribitol dehydrogenase, RDH-D, contains an A196 --> P196 mutation that would disrupt a surface alpha-helix in region II. Hence conformational changes in this region appear to be responsible for the improved xylitol specificity.

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Continuous fermentation with cell recycle proved very effective in increasing the ethanol volumetric productivity of the thermophilic facultative anaerobe, Bacillus stearothermophilus strain LLD-15, on sucrose at 70 degrees C. When complete cell recycle was used, cell viability decreased after a few residence times and sucrose consumption was reduced. Operation using a constant bleed rate resulted in greater stability and higher ethanol volumetric productivities. A mathematical model based on maintenance energy requirements provided an adequate description of the system.

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To try to lower the pH optimum, the carboxy groups of Arthrobacter D-xylose isomerase were coupled to glycinamide using a water-soluble carbodi-imide. In conditions that substituted all of the 59 carboxy groups in the denatured monomer, a maximum of 30 groups/monomer reacted in the native enzyme, whether in presence or absence of ligands, and the enzyme remained fully active and tetrameric throughout the coupling reaction. Purification by f.p.l.c. ion-exchange chromatography gave broad symmetrical peaks with increased pI, suggesting that the modified enzymes are essentially homogeneous. However, they are less stable than native enzyme in 8 M urea or on heating ('melting points' of 59 degrees versus 73 degrees C for the apoenzymes and 67 degrees versus 81.5 degrees C for the Mg(2+)-enzymes). Kinetic studies of the D-fructose isomerase activity at 30 degrees C showed that the glycinamidylated enzyme had unaltered activation constant for Mg2+, and Km was also similar to that of the native enzyme at pH 7.3, but increased rapidly at higher pH rather than remaining constant. Vmax. was constant from pH 6.2 to 8.0, suggesting a reduced pKa for His-219, which controls Vmax. in the native enzyme (normally 6.0). Three mutants were constructed by protein engineering with a view to reducing the pH optimum of enzyme activity. Two of these, Glu140-->Lys and Asp189-->Lys, could be detected in crude extracts of Escherichia coli by SDS/PAGE, but could not be purified, whereas mutant Trp136-->Glu was produced as a tetramer in amounts similar to the wild-type enzyme. However, it did not show any enzyme activity and was less stable in 0-9 M urea gradient PAGE.

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Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae transformed with a yeast multicopy expression vector carrying the cDNA for Aspergillus niger secretory beta-galactosidase under the control of ADH1 promoter and terminator were studied for their fermentation properties on lactose (V. Kumar, S. Ramakrishnan, T. T. Teeri, J. K. C. Knowles, and B. S. Hartley, Biotechnology 10:82-85, 1992). Lactose was hydrolyzed extracellularly into glucose and galactose, and both sugars were utilized simultaneously. Diauxic growth patterns were not observed. However, a typical biphasic growth was observed on a mixture of glucose and galactose under aerobic and anaerobic conditions with transformants of a haploid S. cerevisiae strain, GRF167. Polyploid distiller's yeast (Mauri) transformants were selected simply on the basis of the cloned gene expression on X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside) plates. Rapid and complete lactose hydrolysis and higher ethanol (0.31 g/g of sugar) and biomass (0.24 g/g of sugar) production were observed with distiller's yeast grown under aerobic conditions. A constant proportion (10%) of the population retained the plasmid throughout the fermentation period (48 h). Nearly theoretical yields of ethanol were obtained under anaerobic conditions on lactose, glucose, galactose, and whey permeate media. However, the rate and the amount of lactose hydrolysis were lower under anaerobic than aerobic conditions. All lactose-grown cells expressed partial galactokinase activity.

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Mutants of Arthrobacter D-xylose isomerase were constructed in which one or two disulphide bridges or additional salt bridges were introduced at the A-A* subunit interfaces. These showed no change in enzyme activity or stability compared with the wild-type enzyme. However, a Tyr253 mutant in which a disulphide bridge was introduced at the A-B* subunit interface showed reduced thermostability that was identical in both oxidized and reduced forms, and also reduced stability in urea. X-ray-crystallographic analysis of the Mn(2+)-xylitol form of oxidized Y253C (the Tyr253-->Cys mutant) showed a changed conformation of Glu185 and also alternative conformations for Asp254, which is a ligand to the Site-[2] metal ion. With fructose, Mg(2+)-Y253C has a similar Km to that of the wild-type, and its Vmax. is also similar below pH 6.4, but declined thereafter. In the presence of Co2+, Y253C has lower activity than wild-type at all pH values, but its activity also declines at alkaline pH. These results suggest that electrostatic repulsion from the new position of Glu185 causes Asp254 to move when His219 is unprotonated, thereby preventing M2+ binding at Site [2]. These results also suggest that subunit dissociation does not lie on the pathway of thermal inactivation of D-xylose isomerase, but that movements of active-site groups are a trigger for conformational changes that initiate the unfolding process.

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The pattern and kinetics of partial proteolysis of Arthrobacter D-xylose isomerase tetramer was studied in order to determine the flexibility of surface loops that may control its stability. It was completely resistant to trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase at 37 degrees C, but thermolysin cleaved specifically and quantitatively at Thr-347-Leu-348 between helices 10 and 11 to remove 47 residues from the C-terminus of each 43.3 kDa subunit. At high temperatures, helices 9 and 10 were removed from each 38 kDa subunit to give a 36 kDa tetramer. The kinetics of nicking by thermolysin indicated that the Thr-347-Leu-348 loop is locked at low temperatures, but 'melts' at 25 degrees C and is fully flexible above 34 degrees C. The flexibility appears to be associated with binding of Ca2+ ions at the active site, since Co2+, Mg2+ and xylitol protect in proportion to their ability to displace Ca2+. The missing C-terminal helices make many intersubunit contacts that appear in the structure to stabilize the tetramer, but the properties of the purified nicked proteins are almost indistinguishable from the native enzyme. Both the 38 kDa tetramer and the 36 kDa tetramer are identically active and dissociate similarly in urea or SDS to fully active dimers, but the nicked dimers are slightly less stable to urea at 62 degrees C. In the Mg2+ form the thermostability of the 38 kDa tetramer is identical with that of the native enzyme, but the 36 kDa tetramer has a slightly lower 'melting point' (70 degrees C versus 80 degrees C), which may be due to unravelling from the end of helix 8. Since elimination of all the C-terminal helices and many intersubunit contacts has so little effect, one can conclude that the 'weak point' that controls the protein's thermostability lies within the N-terminal beta-barrel domain.

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There was no inactivation of Mg(2+)-containing Arthrobacter D-xylose isomerase up to 1 h in 0-8 M-urea at 22 degrees C, but over this range there was rapid reversible dissociation into fully active dimers with a midpoint around 4 M-urea, as shown by gradient urea gels with an activity stain, and by ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration in urea buffers. These dimers must have the A-B* conformation, since the tetramer could dissociate into A-A*, A-B or A-B* dimer conformations, but only residues across the A-B* interface contribute to the active site. The kinetics of inactivation of the Mg(2+)-containing enzyme in 8 M-urea at higher temperatures suggest a partially unfolded Mg-A-B* dimer intermediate with 50% activity, followed by irreversible inactivation coincident with the appearance of unfolded monomer. In 0-4 M guanidinium chloride, a similar reversible dissociation into active dimers occurs, but activity falls, suggesting that A-A* and/or A-B dimers might be part of the mixture. Low concentrations of SDS also give active dimers leading to unfolded monomers, but SDS above 1% (w/v) provides relative stabilization. The apoenzyme is least thermostable (t 1/2 at 80 degrees C, pH 7, = 0.06 h) but Mg2+ stabilizes strongly (t 1/2 = 5.5 h) and Co2+ even more so. Competitive inhibitors or substrates provide a small further stabilization, but this effect is more marked at 80 degrees C, pH 5.5. Together with a marked decrease in optimum pH with temperature, this allows batch isomerizations of glucose under these conditions that produce clean but sweeter syrups.

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A synthetic medium was developed by the pulse and medium-shift technique for the continuous cultivation of Bacillus stearothermophilus strain LLD-15 (NCIMB 12428) under anaerobic conditions. This mutant strain lacks L-lactate dehydrogenase activity, and is a promising candidate for the production of ethanol from pentoses and hexoses, using a high-temperature two-stage process. The final medium contained four amino acids and five vitamins, and growth characteristics in this medium compared well with those in complex medium containing yeast extract and tryptone. At 70 degrees C, the medium was capable of supporting good anaerobic and aerobic growth at 10 g input sucrose l-1. High ethanol production indicated that pyruvate metabolism probably occurred via the combined activity of the pyruvate-formate-lyase pathway and pyruvate dehydrogenase.

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The mechanism of D-fructose isomerization by Arthrobacter D-xylose isomerase suggested from X-ray-crystallographic studies was tested by detailed kinetic analysis of the enzyme with various metal ions at different pH values and temperatures. At D-fructose concentrations used in commercial processes Mg2+ is the best activator with an apparent dissociation constant of 63 microM; Co2+ and Mn2+ bind more strongly (apparent Kd 20 microM and 10 microM respectively) but give less activity (45% and 8% respectively). Ca2+ is a strict competitive inhibitor versus Mg2+ (Ki 3 microM) or Co2+ (Ki 105 microM). The kinetics show a compulsory order of binding; Co2+ binds first to Site 2 and then to Site 1; then D-fructose binds at Site 1. At normal concentrations Mg2+ binds at Site 1, then D-fructose and then Mg2+ at Site 2. At very high Mg2+ concentrations (greater than 10 mM) the order is Mg2+ at Site 1, Mg2+ at Site 2, then D-fructose. The turnover rate (kcat.) is controlled by ionization of a residue with apparent pKa at 30 degrees C of 6.0 +/- 0.07 (Mg2+) or 5.3 +/- 0.08 (Co2+) and delta H = 23.5 kJ/mol. This appears to be His-219, which is co-ordinated to M[2]; protonation destroys isomerization by displacing M[2]; Co2+ binds more strongly at Site 2 than Mg2+, so competes more strongly against H+. The inhibition constant (Ki) for the two competitive inhibitors 5-thio-alpha-D-glucopyranose and D-sorbitol is invariant with pH, but Km(app.) in the Mg[1]-enzyme is controlled by ionization of a group with pKa 6.8 +/- 0.07 and delta H = 27 kJ/mol, which appears to be His-53. This shows that Km(app.) is a complex constant that includes the rate of the ring-opening step catalysed by His-53, which explains the pH-dependence. In the Mg[1]Mg[2]-enzyme or Co[1]Co[2]-enzyme, the pKa is lower (6.2 +/- 0.1 or 5.6 +/- 0.08) because of the extra adjacent cation. Hence the results fit the previously proposed pathway, but show that the mechanisms differ for Mg2+ and Co2+ and that the rate-limiting step is isomerization and not ring-opening as previously postulated.

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We describe the construction of a lactose-utilizing Saccharomyces cerevisiae that expresses the cDNA for a secreted, thermostable beta-galactosidase (lacA) from Aspergillus niger. Yeast cells expressing the lacA gene from the yeast ADH1 promotor on a multicopy plasmid secrete up to 40% of the total beta-galactosidase activity into the growth medium. The secreted product is extensively N-glycosylated, and cells expressing the lacA gene grow on whey permeate (4% w/v lactose) with a doubling time of 1.6 hours. Such strains may offer a solution to the increasing problem of waste whey disposal.

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D-Xylose (D-glucose) isomerase was purified to homogeneity in yields of approx. 1 g/kg of wet cells from a strain of Arthrobacter that produces it as about 10% of total soluble protein. It is a tetramer of identical 43,114 Da subunits containing a preponderance of acidic residues and no cysteine. Partial protein sequences were determined as a step to gene cloning. It requires Mg2+, Co2+ or Mn2+ for activity, Mg2+ being best; Ca2+ is an inhibitor, competitive with Mg2+. It is a good D-glucose isomerase with kcat. 1200 min-1 at pH 8 at 60 degrees C, which is higher than that of any other enzyme of this class. L-Arabinose, D-ribose and D-lyxose are poor substrates, with kcat. 78, 31 and 3.7 min-1 respectively at pH 8 at 30 degrees C, compared with 533 min-1 for D-xylose. Xylitol is a true competitive inhibitor for D-xylose (Ki 0.3 mM), but D-sorbitol shows mixed inhibition (Ki 6.5 mM). For D-fructose the pH optimum at 60 degrees C is 8, and at pH 7 the Arrhenius activation energy is 75 kJ/mol over the range 30-70 degrees C.

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Arthrobacter strain N.R.R.L. B3728 superproduces a D-xylose isomerase that is also a useful industrial D-glucose isomerase. The gene (xylA) that encodes it has been cloned by complementing a xylA mutant of the ancestral strain, with the use of a shuttle vector. The 5' region shows strong sequence similarity to Escherichia coli consensus promoters and ribosome-binding sequences and allows high levels of expression in E. coli. The coding sequence shows similarity to those for other D-xylose isomerases and is followed by 22 nucleotide residues with stop codons in each reading frame, a good 'consensus' ribosome-binding site and an open reading frame showing similarity to those of known D-xylulokinases (xylB). Studies on the expression of the cloned gene in Arthrobacter and in E. coli suggest that the two genes are part of a xyl operon regulated by a repressor that is defective in strain B3728. Codon usage in these two genes, and in another open reading frame (nxi) that was adventitiously isolated during early cloning attempts, shows some characteristic omissions and a strong G + C preference in redundant positions.

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Two-sector linked-scan analysis of an unpurified proteolytic digest of a pyruvate decarboxylase enzyme (60,000 Da) has allowed the discovery and assignment of an amino-terminal post-translational modification and processing event. A difference in amino acid sequence from that predicted by a recently published nucleotide sequence has also been found. These results illustrate both the use and considerable potential of linked-scan methods for the analysis of complex biopolymer mixtures.

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Biochemical evidence that pyruvate decarboxylase in S. cerevisiae might be constituted from two independently encoded subunits led us to question genetic evidence for a single structural gene. The main evidence for this was that three "structural" mutations appeared to be alleles of the same gene, PDC1 (Schmitt and Zimmermann 1982). We report that one of these mutations (pdc1-30) is not allelic either to other pdc1 alleles or to pdc2 mutations and therefore is has been renamed pdc3-30 thus identifying a new gene, PDC3. We have cloned the PDC3 gene, it represents a unique sequence in the genome and targeted integration shows tight linkage to the PDC3 locus. However, the size, abundance and regulation of the PDC3 transcript suggest that it does not encode a second structural gene. Possible functions for the PDC3 gene product are discussed.

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Methods currently used for the extraction of proteins from yeast involve relatively long time periods between sampling cells from a culture and analysis of their proteins by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-sodium dodecylsulphate. Often it is desirable to inactivate cellular metabolism rapidly after sampling and here we show that trichloroacetic acid precipitation techniques, often used for rapid extraction and inactivation of proteins from higher eukaryotes, can be adapted for use with organisms which have cell walls.

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We have cloned and sequenced the PGI1 gene, encoding phosphoglucose isomerase (E.C.5.3.1.9), from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The nucleotide sequence predicts subunits of 554 amino acids with a molecular weight of 61,230. Both the size and amino acid composition correlate well with measurements from purified protein. We have compared the PGI1 protein with the predicted sequence for pig muscle PGI. In spite of some evolutionary divergence the proteins are very similar and there are some highly conserved regions, two of which have been implicated in the active site. It has been suggested that PGI exists in two or more isozyme forms in S. cerevisiae and analogy with ADR2/ADC1 suggests that such PGI isozymes might also be differentially regulated during glycolytic/gluconeogenic growth. We have used accurate quantitation of PGI1 mRNA and gene fusions of PGI1 to the lacZ gene of Escherichia coli to show that PGI1 transcription is regulated neither between glycolytic and gluconeogenic growth nor between exponential and stationary phase. The complete lack of PGI activity in PGI1 deletion mutants and of differential regulation suggests that the isozymes of PGI might result merely from processing of the PGI1 gene product.

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An efficient host-vector system has been developed for an industrial strain of Arthrobacter sp. (NRRL B3728)used for glucose isomerase production. Protoplasts of Arthrobacter were generated by treating the cells with 0.5 mg lysozyme ml(-1) for 60 min in a solution containing 0.5 M-sucrose. Around 30% of the protoplasts regenerated on agar containing 0.5 M-sodium succinate as osmotic stabilizer. Three hybrid vectors, PBL2100, pCG1100 and pCG2100, were constructed by combining the Escherichia coli plasmid pBR322, a kanamycin- resistance gene from pNCAT4 and a cryptic plasmid from either Brevibacterium lactofermentum NCIB 9567 or Corynebacterium glutamicum NCIB 10026. These vectors transformed the protoplasts and expressed the kanamycin-resistance gene for screening. They contain a number of unique restrictions sites for cloning of foreign DNA. The transformation frequency of this system was 10(5)-10(6) transformants per micrograms of input plasmid and ws constant up to 5 micrograms of DNA. the probability of a plasmid transforming a plasmid transforming a protoplast was in the range 10(-5)-10(-6). The copy number of pBL2100 was around 5 per cell and those of pCG1100 and pCG2100 were around 33 per cell. Deletion mutants were generated from pCG2100. One of them, pCG2120, was able to transform protoplasts of strain NRRL B3728. Plasmids pBL2100 and pCG2100 were structurally stable in cells of NRRL B3728 but could not be maintained in non-selective medium. They segregated at a rate of 12.2 and 2.2% per generation respectively.

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The ribitol dehydrogenase gene was cloned from wild-type Klebsiella aerogenes and also from a transducing phage lambda prbt which expresses the rbt operon constitutively. The coding sequence for 249 amino acids is separated from the following D-ribulokinase gene by 31 base pairs containing three stop codons, one of which overlaps the ribosome binding site for D-ribulokinase. Three residues in the amino acid sequence differ from that predicted from the DNA sequence: Asp-212 for Asn-212 is probably a protein sequencing error, but -Ala-Val- for -Ser-Ser- at 146-147 appears to be a 'neutral mutation' that may have arisen during prolonged chemostat selection of a strain that superproduces the enzyme from which the protein sequence was determined.

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The in vitro transcription pattern of Bg/II-digested phi 3T DNA is described. Eight Bg/II fragments that hybridized to in vitro transcription products were unequivocally identified. A further hybridizing region corresponding to a Bg/II triplet was also revealed, giving a total of nine to 11 Bg/II fragments. These represent 47 to 53% of the phi 3T genome. Transcription was shown to initiate within Bg/II fragments B, G, C, H, I, F and J, implying that all of these contain at least one promoter. The relevance of these data to the construction of a cloning vector based on phi 3T is discussed.

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