Mutation of aspartic acid residues in the fructosyltransferase of Streptococcus salivarius ATCC 25975

The site-directed mutated fructosyltransferases (Ftfs) of Streptococcus salivarius ATCC 25975, D312E, D312S, D312N and D312K were all active at 37 degrees C, indicating that Asp-312 present in the 'sucrose box' was not the nucleophilic Asp residue responsible for the formation of a covalent fructosyl-enzyme intermediate required for enzyme activity. Analysis of the kinetic constants of the purified mutated forms of the enzyme showed that Asp312 was most likely an essential amino acid involved in determining acceptor recognition and/or stabilizing a beta-turn in the protein. In contrast, when the Asp-397 of the Ftf present in the conserved triplet RDP motif of all 60 bacterial and plant family-32 glycosylhydrolases was mutated to a Ser residue, both sucrose hydrolysis and polymerization ceased. Tryptophan emission spectra confirmed that this mutation did not alter protein structure. Comparison of published data from other site-directed mutated enzymes implicated the Asp residue in the RDP motif as the one that may form a transient covalent fructosyl intermediate during the catalysis of sucrose by the Ftf of S. salivarius.