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Purification and characterization of the alanine aminotransferase from the hyperthermophilic Archaeon pyrococcus furiosus and its role in alanine production.

ABSTRACT: Alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT) was purified from cell extracts of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus by multistep chromatography. The enzyme has an apparent molecular mass of 93.5 kDa, as estimated by gel filtration, and consists of two identical subunits of 46 kDa, as deduced by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the gene sequence. The AlaAT displayed a broader substrate specificity than AlaATs from eukaryal sources and exhibited significant activity with alanine, glutamate, and aspartate with either 2-oxoglutarate or pyruvate as the amino acceptor. Optimal activity was found in the pH range of 6. 5 to 7.8 and at a temperature of over 95 degrees C. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified AlaAT was determined and enabled the identification of the gene encoding AlaAT (aat) in the P. furiosus genome database. The gene was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the recombinant enzyme was purified. The pH and temperature dependence, molecular mass, and kinetic parameters of the recombinant were indistinguishable from those of the native enzyme from P. furiosus. The k(cat)/K(m) values for alanine and pyruvate formation were 41 and 33 s(-1) mM(-1), respectively, suggesting that the enzyme is not biased toward either the formation of pyruvate, or alanine. Northern analysis identified a single 1.2-kb transcript for the aat gene. In addition, both the aat and gdh (encoding the glutamate dehydrogenase) transcripts appear to be coregulated at the transcriptional level, because the expression of both genes was induced when the cells were grown on pyruvate. The coordinated control found for the aat and gdh genes is in good agreement with these enzymes acting in a concerted manner to form an electron sink in P. furiosus.

SUBMITTER: Ward DE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC111321 | biostudies-literature | 2000 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Purification and characterization of the alanine aminotransferase from the hyperthermophilic Archaeon pyrococcus furiosus and its role in alanine production.

Ward D E DE Kengen S W SW van Der Oost J J de Vos W M WM

Journal of bacteriology 20000501 9

Alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT) was purified from cell extracts of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus by multistep chromatography. The enzyme has an apparent molecular mass of 93.5 kDa, as estimated by gel filtration, and consists of two identical subunits of 46 kDa, as deduced by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the gene sequence. The AlaAT displayed a broader substrate specificity than AlaATs from eukaryal sources and exhibited significant activity ...[more]

PMID: 10762259

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Project description:The fermentative hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus contains an NADPH-utilizing, heterotetrameric (alphabetagammadelta), cytoplasmic hydrogenase (hydrogenase I) that catalyzes both H(2) production and the reduction of elemental sulfur to H(2)S. Herein is described the purification of a second enzyme of this type, hydrogenase II, from the same organism. Hydrogenase II has an M(r) of 320,000 +/- 20,000 and contains four different subunits with M(r)s of 52,000 (alpha), 39,000 (beta), 30,000 (gamma), and 24,000 (delta). The heterotetramer contained Ni (0.9 +/- 0.1 atom/mol), Fe (21 +/- 1.6 atoms/mol), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) (0.83 +/- 0.1 mol/mol). NADPH and NADH were equally efficient as electron donors for H(2) production with K(m) values near 70 microM and k(cat)/K(m) values near 350 min(-1) mM(-1). In contrast to hydrogenase I, hydrogenase II catalyzed the H(2)-dependent reduction of NAD (K(m), 128 microM; k(cat)/K(m), 770 min(-1) mM(-1)). Ferredoxin from P. furiosus was not an efficient electron carrier for either enzyme. Both H(2) and NADPH served as electron donors for the reduction of elemental sulfur (S(0)) and polysulfide by hydrogenase I and hydrogenase II, and both enzymes preferentially reduce polysulfide to sulfide rather than protons to H(2) using NADPH as the electron donor. At least two [4Fe-4S] and one [2Fe-2S] cluster were detected in hydrogenase II by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, but amino acid sequence analyses indicated a total of five [4Fe-4S] clusters (two in the beta subunit and three in the delta subunit) and one [2Fe-2S] cluster (in the gamma subunit), as well as two putative nucleotide-binding sites in the gamma subunit which are thought to bind FAD and NAD(P)(H). The amino acid sequences of the four subunits of hydrogenase II showed between 55 and 63% similarity to those of hydrogenase I. The two enzymes are present in the cytoplasm at approximately the same concentration. Hydrogenase II may become physiologically relevant at low S(0) concentrations since it has a higher affinity than hydrogenase I for both S(0) and polysulfide.

Project description:Oxidative Stress Protection and the Repair Response To Hydrogen Peroxide in the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus Pyrococcus furiosus is a shallow marine, anaerobic archaeon that grows optimally at 100Â°C. Addition of H2O2 (0.5 mM) to a growing culture resulted in cessation of growth with a 2 hour lag before normal growth resumed. Whole genome transcriptional profiling revealed that the main response occurs within 30 min of peroxide addition, with the up-regulation of 62 open reading frames (ORFs), 36 of which are part of 10 potential operons. More than half of the up-regulated ORFs are of unknown function while some others encode proteins that are involved potentially in sequestering iron and sulfide, in DNA repair and in generating NADPH. This response is thought to involve primarily damage repair rather than protection, since cultures exposed to sub-toxic levels of H2O2 were not more resistant to the subsequent addition of H2O2 (0.5 â 5.0 mM). Consequently, there is little if any induced protective response to peroxide, rather, the organism maintains a constitutive protective mechanism involving high levels of oxidoreductase-type enzymes such as superoxide reductase, rubrerythrin and alkyl hydroperoxide reductase I. The related hyperthermophiles P. woesei and Thermococcus kodakaraensis were more sensitive to peroxide than P. furiosus, apparently due to the lack of several of its peroxide-responsive ORFs. Pyrococcus furiosus (DSM 3638) was grown at 95Â°C in a 20-liter fermentor using maltose as the carbon and energy source. An exponential-phase culture of P. furiosus that had undergone three successive transfers in the experimental medium was used to inoculate the 20-liter fermentor. The culture was shocked with 0.5 mM of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) when cell density was in mid-exponential phase (~ 5.0 Â´ 107 cells/ml, as determined by direct microscopic cell count). To obtain RNA for microarray and for quantitative PCR (QPCR) analyses, samples (2 liter) were rapidly removed from the fermentor and cooled to 4Â°C. Total RNA was extracted using acid-phenol and stored at -80Â°C until needed. A total of 3 biological replicates in triplicate (3 copies on the same slide) was used in the data set.

Dataset Information

Purification and characterization of the alanine aminotransferase from the hyperthermophilic Archaeon pyrococcus furiosus and its role in alanine production.

Publications

Purification and characterization of the alanine aminotransferase from the hyperthermophilic Archaeon pyrococcus furiosus and its role in alanine production.

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