A new type of thermoalkalophilic hydrolase of Paucimonas lemoignei with high specificity for amorphous polyesters of short chain-length hydroxyalkanoic acids

A novel type of hydrolase was purified from culture fluid of Paucimonas (fo rmerly Pseudomonas) lemoignei. Biochemical characterization revealed an unu sual substrate specificity of the purified enzyme for amorphous poly((R)-3- hydroxyalkanoates) (PHA) such as native granules of natural poly((R)-3-hydr oxybutyrate) (PHB) or poly((R)-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHV), artificial cholate -coated granules of natural PHB or PHV, atactic poly((R,S)3-hydroxybutyrate ), and oligomers of (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) with six or more 3HB units. The enzyme has the unique property to recognize the physical state of the polymeric substrate by discrimination between amorphous PHA (good substrate ) and denatured, partially crystalline PHA (no substrate). The pentamers of 3HB or 3HV were identified as the main products of enzymatic hydrolysis of native PHB or PHV, respectively. No activity was found with any denatured PHA, oligomers of (R)-3HB with five or less 3HB units, poly(6-hydroxyhexano ate), substrates of lipases such as tributyrin or triolein, substrates for amidases/nitrilases, DNA, RNA, casein, N-alpha -benzoyl-L-arginine-4-nitran ilide, or starch. The purified enzyme (M-r 36,209) was remarkably stable an d active at high temperature (60 degreesC), high pH (up to 12.0), low ionic strength (distilled water), and in solvents (e.g. n-propyl alcohol). The d epolymerase contained no essential SH groups or essential disulfide bridges and was insensitive to high concentrations of ionic (SDS) and nonionic (Tr iton and Tween) detergents. Characterization of the cloned structural gene (phaZ7) and the DNA-deduced amino acid sequence revealed no homologies to a ny PUB depolymerase or any other sequence of data banks except for a short sequence related to the active site serine of serine hydrolases. A classifi cation of the enzyme into a new family (family 9) of carboxyesterases (Arpi gny, J. L., and Jaeger, YL-E. (1999) Biochem J. 343, 177-183) is suggested.