Jianhua Hao

Purification and Characterization of a New Alginate Lyase from Marine Bacterium Vibrio sp. SY08.

Unsaturated alginate disaccharides (UADs), enzymatically derived from the degradation of alginate polymers, are considered powerful antioxidants. In this study, a new high UAD-producing alginate lyase, AlySY08, has been purified from the marine bacterium Vibrio sp. SY08. AlySY08, with a molecular weight of about 33 kDa and a specific activity of 1070.2 U/mg, showed the highest activity at 40 °C in phosphate buffer at pH 7.6. The enzyme was stable over a broad pH range (6.0–9.0) and retained about 75% activity after incubation at 40 °C for 2 h. Moreover, the enzyme was active in the absence of salt ions and its activity was enhanced by the addition of NaCl and KCl. AlySY08 resulted in an endo-type alginate lyase that degrades both polyM and polyG blocks, yielding UADs as the main product (81.4% of total products). All these features made AlySY08 a promising candidate for industrial applications in the production of antioxidants from alginate polysaccharides.

Structure analysis of a new psychrophilic marine protease.

A new psychrophilic marine protease was found from a marine bacterium Flavobacterium YS-80 in the Chinese Yellow Sea. The protease is about 49 kD with an isoelectric point about 4.5. It consists of 480 amino acids and is homologous to a psychrophilic alkaline protease (PAP) from an Antarctic Pseudomonas species. The protein was purified from the natural bacterium fermented and crystallized. Its crystal structure (PDB ID 3U1R) was solved at 2.0 Å by Molecular Replacement using a model based on PAP, and was refined to a crystallographic Rwork of 0.16 and an Rfree of 0.21. The marine protease consists of a two domain structure with an N-terminal domain including residues 37–264 and a C-terminal domain including residues 265–480. Similar to PAP, the N-terminal domain is responsible for proteolysis and the C-terminal is for stability. His186, His190, His196 and Tyr226 are ligands for the Zn2+ ion in the catalytic center. The enzymes Tyr226 is closer to the Zn2+ ion than in PAP and it shows a stronger Zn2+―Tyr-OH bond. There are eight calcium ions in the marine protease molecule and they have significantly shorter bond distances to their ligands compared to their counterparts in all three crystal forms of PAP. On the other hand, the loops in the marine protease are more compact than in PAP. This makes the total structure stable and less flexible, resulting in higher thermo stability. These properties are consistent with the respective environments of the proteases. The structural analysis of this new marine protease provides new information for the study of psychrophilic proteases and is helpful for elucidating the structure-environment adaptation of these enzymes.

Purification and Characterization of Catalase from Marine Bacterium Acinetobacter sp. YS0810

The catalase from marine bacterium Acinetobacter sp. YS0810 (YS0810CAT) was purified and characterized. Consecutive steps were used to achieve the purified enzyme as follows: ethanol precipitation, DEAE Sepharose ion exchange, Superdex 200 gel filtration, and Resource Q ion exchange. The active enzyme consisted of four identical subunits of 57.256u2009kDa. It showed a Soret peak at 405u2009nm, indicating the presence of iron protoporphyrin IX. The catalase was not apparently reduced by sodium dithionite but was inhibited by 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole, hydroxylamine hydrochloride, and sodium azide. Peroxidase-like activity was not found with the substrate o-phenylenediamine. So the catalase was determined to be a monofunctional catalase. N-terminal amino acid of the catalase analysis gave the sequence SQDPKKCPVTHLTTE, which showed high degree of homology with those of known catalases from bacteria. The analysis of amino acid sequence of the purified catalase by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry showed that it was a new catalase, in spite of its high homology with those of known catalases from other bacteria. The catalase showed high alkali stability and thermostability.

Virtual screening of novel reversible inhibitors for marine alkaline protease MP

Marine alkaline protease (MP,(2) accession no. ACY25898) is produced by a marine bacterium strain isolated from Yellow Sea sediment in China. Previous research has shown that this protease is a cold-adapted enzyme with antioxidant activity that could be used as a detergent additive. Owing to its instability in the liquid state, MPs application in liquid detergents was limited. Therefore, the discovery of reversible MP inhibitors to stabilize the protease was imperative. Here, we used the X-ray structure of MP and recompiled AutoDock 4.2 with refined Zn(2+) characters to screen the free chemical database ZINC. After completing the docking procedure, we applied strategies including the initial filter, consensus scoring and pharmocophore model to accelerate the process and improve the virtual screening success rate. The initial filter was built based on the docking results of boronic acid derivatives validated as reversible inhibitors of MP by our previous studies. Finally, ten compounds were purchased or synthetized to test their binding affinity for MP. Three of the compounds could reversibly inhibit MP with apparent Ki values of 0.8-1.2 mmol. These active compounds and their binding modes provide useful information for understanding the molecular mechanism of reversible MP inhibition. The results may also serve as the foundation for further screening and design of reversible MP inhibitors.

Cloning and characterization of a new cold-adapted and thermo-tolerant ι-carrageenase from marine bacterium Flavobacterium sp. YS-80-122

ι-Carrageenases play a role in marine ι-carrageenan degradation, and their enzymatic hydrolysates are thought to be excellent antioxidants. In this study, we identified a new ι-carrageenase, encoded by cgiF, in psychrophilic bacterium Flavobacterium sp. YS-80-122. The deduced ι-carrageenase, CgiF, belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 82 and shows less than 40% amino acid identity with characterized ι-carrageenases. The activity of recombinant CgiF peaked at 30°C (1,207.8U/mg). Notably, CgiF is a cold-adapted ι-carrageenase, which showed 36.5% and 57% of the maximum activity at 10°C and 15°C, respectively. In addition, it is a thermo-tolerant enzyme that recovered 58.2% of its initial activity after heat shock. Furthermore, although the activity of CgiF was enhanced by NaCl, the enzyme is active in absence of NaCl. This study also shows that CgiF is an endo-type ι-carrageenase that hydrolyzes β-1,4-linkages of ι-carrageenan, yielding neo-ι-carratetraose as the main product. Its cold-adaptation, thermo-tolerance, NaCl independence and high neo-ι-carratetraose yield make CgiF an excellent candidate for industrial applications in production of ι-carrageen oligosaccharides from seaweed polysaccharides.

Homology Modeling and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Studies of a Marine Alkaline Protease

A cold-adapted marine alkaline protease (MP, accession no. ACY25898) was produced by a marine bacterium strain, which was isolated from Yellow Sea sediment in China. Many previous researches showed that this protease had potential application as a detergent additive. It was therefore crucial to determine the tertiary structure of MP. In this study, a homology model of MP was constructed using the multiple templates alignment method. The tools PROCHECK, ERRAT, and Verify_3D were used to check the effectiveness of the model. The result showed that 94% of residues were found in the most favored allowed regions, 6% were in the additional allowed region, and 96.50% of the residues had average 3D-1D scores of no less than 0.2. Meanwhile, the overall quality factor (ERRAT) of our model was 80.657. In this study, we also focused on elucidating the molecular mechanism of the two “flap” motions. Based on the optimized model, molecular-dynamics simulations in explicit solvent environments were carried out by using the AMBER11 package, for the entire protein, in order to characterize the dynamical behavior of the two flaps. Our results showed an open motion of the two flaps in the water solvent. This research may facilitate inhibitor virtual screening for MP and may also lay the foundationknowledge of mechanism of the inhibitors.

Affinity purification of metalloprotease from marine bacterium using immobilized metal affinity chromatography

In this study, an efficient affinity purification protocol for an alkaline metalloprotease from marine bacterium was developed using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. After screening and optimization of the affinity ligands and spacer arm lengths, Cu-iminmodiacetic acid was chosen as the optimal affinity ligand, which was coupled to Sepharose 6B via a 14-atom spacer arm. The absorption analysis of this medium revealed a desorption constant Kd of 21.5 μg/mL and a theoretical maximum absorption Qmax of 24.9 mg/g. Thanks to this affinity medium, the enzyme could be purified by only one affinity purification step with a purity of approximately 95% pure when analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography and reducing sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The recovery of the protease activity reached 74.6%, which is much higher than the value obtained by traditional protocols (8.9%). These results contribute to the industrial purifications and contribute a significant reference for the purification of other metalloproteases.

Isolation and characterization of marine Brevibacillus sp. S-1 collected from South China Sea and a novel antitumor peptide produced by the strain.

A Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium, designated as S-1, was isolated from a marine sediment sample collected from South China Sea. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that S-1 belongs to the genus Brevibacillus. A novel cytotoxic peptide was isolated from the fermentation broth of the marine-derived bacterium Brevibacillus sp. S-1, using ion-exchange chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC chromatography. The molecular weight of this peptide was determined as 1570 Da by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, and its structure was proposed as a cyclic peptide elucidated by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry and de novo sequencing. 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay showed that this peptide exhibited cytotoxicity against BEL-7402 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells, RKO human colon carcinoma cells, A549 human lung carcinoma cells, U251 human glioma cells and MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells. Additionally, SBP exhibited low cytotoxicity against HFL1 human normal fibroblast lung cells. The result suggested that the cytotoxic effect of the peptide is specific to tumor cells.

Identification of a Marine Bacillus Strain C5 and Parathion-Methyl Degradation Characteristics of the Extracellular Esterase B1

A bacterial strain C5 that can produce new type of marine esterase was isolated and screened from marine sludge. According to 16S rRNA sequence analysis and physiological and biochemical experiments, the strain was identified as Bacillus subtilis. A single isozyme with a molecular weight of 86u2009kDa was observed by SDS-PAGE and native-PAGE. On this basis, the mechanism of esterase B1 secreted by strain C5 degrading parathion-methyl was explored, and the effects of temperature and pH on the degradation rate were investigated. From the results, p-nitrophenol was one of the degradation products of B1 degrading parathion-methyl, and the best degradation effect could be achieved at the temperature of 40°C and the neutral pH value.

Hymenobacter profundi sp. nov., isolated from deep-sea water

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, red-pigmented, aerobic bacterium, strain M2T, was isolated from a seawater sample collected from the western Pacific Ocean at a depth of 1000u2009m and characterized using polyphasic taxonomy. Strain M2T was catalase-positive and oxidase-negative. Cells grew at 4-33u2009°C (optimum, 25u2009°C), at pH 6-9 (optimum, 7) and with 0-4u200a% (w/v) (optimum, 1u200a%) NaCl. Phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain M2T was associated with the genus Hymenobacter. Strain M2T showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Hymenobacter actinosclerus CCUG 39621T (95.7u200a%), Hymenobacter tibetensis XTM003T (95.6u200a%) and Hymenobacter psychrotolerans Tibet-IIU11T (95.2u200a%). The DNA G+Cu2009content was 59.98u2009mol%. Strain M2T contained C16u200a:u200a1ω5c (25.0u200a%), iso-C15u200a:u200a0 (23.9u200a%) and summed feature 3 (C16u200a:u200a1ω6c and/or C16u200a:u200a1ω7c, 20.4u200a%) as major cellular fatty acids. The major quinone of strain M2T was menaquinone 7 and the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The major polyamine of strain M2T was sym-homospermidine. The phylogenetic analysis and physiological and biochemical data showed that strain M2T should be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Hymenobacter, for which the name Hymenobacter profundi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M2T (=CCTCCu2009AB 2017185T=KCTC 62120T).