Calcium-sensitive extracellular poly(α-L-guluronate)lyase from a marine bacterium Pseudomonas sp strain F6:: Purification and some properties

Poly(alpha -L-guluronate)lyase, as one of alginate lyases, was purified from the culture medium of a marine bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. strain F6, to an electrophoretically homogeneous state. The enzyme was shown to have a molecular mass of 36 kDa by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and was most active at around pH 7.5 and was stable between pH 6.5 and pH 8.5. In the thermal stability experiments, the enzyme's activity diminished through an intermediate state with increasing incubation temperatures and was finally lost when heated at 100 degreesC for 15 min. The addition of hen egg-white lysozyme to the enzyme decreased thermal stability dramatically. The apparent retention of enzyme activity (approximately 50%) was observed after the addition of 6 M guanidine hydrochloride and 8 M urea. Enzyme activity was lost completely with 10 mMSDS, while the ordered structure, which is considered likely to be beta -structure, was markedly created. The similar conformational feature has also been created in marine bacterial and mollusc enzymes and the beta -structure is commonly observed in polyuronate lyases. The divalent cation (Ca2+) promoted the activity of the calcium chelator-treated enzyme significantly, suggesting that Ca2+ is involved in the formation of the active intermediate between the acidic uronate(s) and amino acid side-chain(s) of the enzyme.