STRUCTURE OF THE GENE ENCODING CYCLOMALTODEXTRINASE FROM CLOSTRIDIUM-THERMOHYDROSULFURICUM-39E AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE ENZYME PURIFIED FROM ESCHERICHIA-COLI

Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum 39E, a gram-positive thermophilic anaerobic bacterium, produced a cyclodextrin (CD)-degrading enzyme, cyclodextrinase (CDase) (EC 3.2.1.54). The enzyme was purified to homogeneity from Escherichia coli cells carrying a recombinant multicopy plasmid that contained the gene encoding for thermophilic CDase. The purified enzyme was a monomer with an M(r) of 66,000 +/- 2,000. It showed the highest activity at pH 5.9 and 65-degrees-C. The enzyme hydrolyzed alpha-, beta-, and gamma-CD and linear maltooligosaccharides to yield maltose and glucose. The K(m) values for alpha-, beta-, and gamma-CD were 2.5, 2.1, and 1.3 mM, respectively. The rates of hydrolysis for polysaccharides (starch, amylose, amylopectin, and pullulan) were less than 5% of the rate of hydrolysis for alpha-CD. The entire nucleotide sequence of the CDase gene was determined. The deduced amino acid sequence of CDase, consisting of 574 amino acids, showed some similarities with those of various amylolytic enzymes.