Analysis of active center in hyperthermophilic cellulase from Pyrococcus horikoshii.
A hyperthermostable endoglucanase from Pyrococcus horikoshii with the capability of hydrolyzing crystalline cellulose was analyzed. A protein engineering study was carried out to obtain a reduced-size mutant. Five amino acid residues at both the N- and C-terminus were found to be removable without any loss of activity or thermal stability. Site-directed mutagenesis was also performed on R102, N200, E201, H297, Y299, E342, and W377, residues possibly involved in the active center or in the recognition and binding of a cellulose substrate. The activity of the resulting mutants was considerably decreased, confirming that the mutated residues were all important for activity. A reduced-size enzyme, as active as the wild-type endoglucanase, was successfully obtained, plus the residues critical for its activity and specificity were confirmed. Consequently, an engineered enzyme with a reduced size was obtained, and the amino acids essential for activity were confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis and comparison with a known three-dimensional structure.
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST, Kansai), 1-18-31, Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, Japan.
Hee-Jin
HJ
Kang
Kazuhiko
K
Ishikawa
D001665:Binding Sites; D044602:Cellulases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000378:metabolism; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D043902:Pyrococcus horikoshii / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D017384:Sequence Deletion
D002482:Cellulose; D044602:Cellulases