turanose and kojibiose

Trehalose supports the growth of Thermus thermophilus strain HB27, but the absence of obvious genes for the hydrolysis of this disaccharide in the genome led us to search for enzymes for such a purpose. We expressed a putative alpha-glucosidase gene (TTC0107), characterized the recombinant enzyme, and found that the preferred substrate was alpha,alpha-1,1-trehalose, a new feature among alpha-glucosidases. The enzyme could also hydrolyze the disaccharides kojibiose and sucrose (alpha-1,2 linkage), nigerose and turanose (alpha-1,3), leucrose (alpha-1,5), isomaltose and palatinose (alpha-1,6), and maltose (alpha-1,4) to a lesser extent. Trehalose was not, however, a substrate for the highly homologous alpha-glucosidase from T. thermophilus strain GK24. The reciprocal replacement of a peptide containing eight amino acids in the alpha-glucosidases from strains HB27 (LGEHNLPP) and GK24 (EPTAYHTL) reduced the ability of the former to hydrolyze trehalose and provided trehalose-hydrolytic activity to the latter, showing that LGEHNLPP is necessary for trehalose recognition. Furthermore, disruption of the alpha-glucosidase gene significantly affected the growth of T. thermophilus HB27 in minimal medium supplemented with trehalose, isomaltose, sucrose, or palatinose, to a lesser extent with maltose, but not with cellobiose (not a substrate for the alpha-glucosidase), indicating that the alpha-glucosidase is important for the assimilation of those four disaccharides but that it is also implicated in maltose catabolism.

Topics: alpha-Glucosidases; Bacterial Proteins; Disaccharides; Isomaltose; Kinetics; Maltose; Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; Phenotype; Recombinant Proteins; Substrate Specificity; Sucrose; Thermus thermophilus; Trehalose

alpha-Glucosidase II of the facultative thermophile Bacillus thermoamyloliquefaciens KP1071 (FERM-P8477; growth over 30-66 degrees C) was purified to a homogeneous state. Its M(r) was estimated as 90000 by SDS/PAGE. However, the enzyme behaved as an active Mr 540000 protein on gel filtration with each of two gels of different matrices as well as on gel electrophoresis under native conditions. The enzyme was not glycosylated. Its isoelectric point was estimated as 5.7. The N-terminal sequence of 20 residues was determined asAla1-Ile-Gln-Pro-Glu-Gln-Asp-Asp-Lys-Thr-Gln-Glu-Asp-Gly- Tyr-Ile-Asp-Ile-Gly-Asn20. The sequence did not resemble those of procaryotic and eucaryotic proteins hitherto reported including the monomeric exo-alpha-1,4-glucosidase and the monomeric oligo-1,6-glucosidase from the same microorganism. The alpha-glucosidase II had no antigenic group shared with the latter two enzymes. Analysis of substrate specificity showed that the alpha-glucosidase II has dual activity towards oligo-1,6-glucosidases and exo-alpha-1,4-glucosidases, but its preference is for non-reducing terminal alpha-1,4 glucosidic bonds in substrates. Kinetic studies proved that both activities are attributed to the same catalytic site. The enzyme was most active at 81 degrees C and pH 7.0. Its half-life at pH 6.8 was 10 min at 81 degrees C, and 5 h at 55 degrees C in 6.4 M urea, 26% ethanol or 2.5% SDS. We suggest that the alpha-glucosidase II is a thermostable, homohexameric enzyme of origin distinct from the exo-alpha-1,4-glucosidase and the oligo-1,6-glucosidase present in the same strain.

Topics: alpha-Glucosidases; Amino Acids; Bacillus; Binding Sites; Disaccharides; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Enzyme Stability; Glucans; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Immunodiffusion; Isomaltose; Kinetics; Maltose; Molecular Weight; Oligo-1,6-Glucosidase; Oligosaccharides; Temperature; Trisaccharides