title: Novel highly thermostable endolysin from Thermus scotoductus MAT2119 bacteriophage Ph2119 with amino acid sequence similarity to eukaryotic peptidoglycan recognition proteins.
abstract: In this study, we present the discovery and characterization of a highly thermostable endolysin from bacteriophage Ph2119 infecting Thermus strain MAT2119 isolated from geothermal areas in Iceland. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene affiliated the strain with the species Thermus scotoductus. Bioinformatics analysis has allowed identification in the genome of phage 2119 of an open reading frame (468 bp in length) coding for a 155-amino-acid basic protein with an Mr of 17,555. Ph2119 endolysin does not resemble any known thermophilic phage lytic enzymes. Instead, it has conserved amino acid residues (His(30), Tyr(58), His(132), and Cys(140)) that form a Zn(2+) binding site characteristic of T3 and T7 lysozymes, as well as eukaryotic peptidoglycan recognition proteins, which directly bind to, but also may destroy, bacterial peptidoglycan. The purified enzyme shows high lytic activity toward thermophiles, i.e., T. scotoductus (100%), Thermus thermophilus (100%), and Thermus flavus (99%), and also, to a lesser extent, toward mesophilic Gram-negative bacteria, i.e., Escherichia coli (34%), Serratia marcescens (28%), Pseudomonas fluorescens (13%), and Salmonella enterica serovar Panama (10%). The enzyme has shown no activity against a number of Gram-positive bacteria analyzed, with the exception of Deinococcus radiodurans (25%) and Bacillus cereus (15%). Ph2119 endolysin was found to be highly thermostable: it retains approximately 87% of its lytic activity after 6 h of incubation at 95°C. The optimum temperature range for the enzyme activity is 50°C to 78°C. The enzyme exhibits lytic activity in the pH range of 6 to 10 (maximum at pH 7.5 to 8.0) and is also active in the presence of up to 500 mM NaCl.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plotka
authors.forename: Anna-Karina
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kaczorowska
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stefanska
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morzywolek
authors.forename: Olafur H
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Fridjonsson
authors.forename: Stanislaw
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dunin-Horkawicz
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kozlowski
authors.forename: Gudmundur O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Hreggvidsson
authors.forename: Jakob K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kristjansson
authors.forename: Slawomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dabrowski
authors.forename: Janusz M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bujnicki
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaczorowski
mesh_terms: D001433:Bacteriolysis; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D004795:Enzyme Stability; D007055:Iceland; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013696:Temperature; D013824:Thermus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004279:DNA, Viral; C118897:peptidoglycan recognition protein; D010450:Endopeptidases; C001143:endolysin