Aorsin, a novel serine proteinase with trypsin-like specificity at acidic pH.
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A proteinase that hydrolyses clupeine and salmine at acidic pH, called aorsin, was found in the fungus Aspergillus oryzae. Purified aorsin also hydrolysed benzyloxycarbonyl-Arg-Arg-4-methylcoumaryl-7-amide optimally at pH 4.0. The specificity of aorsin appeared to require a basic residue at the P(1) position and to prefer paired basic residues. Aorsin activated plasminogen and converted trypsinogen to trypsin. The trypsin-like activity was inhibited strongly by antipain or leupeptin, but was not inhibited by any other standard inhibitors of peptidases. To identify the catalytic residues of aorsin, a gene was cloned and an expression system was established. The predicted mature protein of aorsin was 35% identical with the classical late-infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis protein CLN2p and was 24% identical with Pseudomonas serine-carboxyl proteinase, both of which are pepstatin-insensitive carboxyl proteinases. Several putative catalytic residues were mutated. The k (cat)/ K(m) values of the mutant enzymes Glu(86)-->Gln, Asp(211)-->Asn and Ser(354)-->Thr were 3-4 orders of magnitude lower and Asp(90)-->Asn was 21-fold lower than that of wild-type aorsin, indicating that the positions are important for catalysis. Aorsin is another of the S53 family serine-carboxyl proteinases that are not inhibited by pepstatin. (+info)
Change in maltose- and soluble starch-hydrolyzing activities of chimeric alpha-glucosidases of Mucor javanicus and Aspergillus oryzae.
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The chimeric alpha-glucosidases of Mucor javanicus and Aspergillus oryzae, which has high activity toward not only maltooligosaccharides but also soluble starch and has high activity toward maltooligosaccharides but faint activity toward soluble starch, respectively, were constructed by shuffling the C-terminal regions where low homology is observed between the two enzymes. The chimera genes were expressed in Pichia pastoris to produce and secrete the enzymes that have predicted molecular masses in the culture medium. The two chimeric M. javanicus alpha-glucosidases, of which the N- and C-terminal regions are substituted for those of A. oryzae, respectively, decreased in soluble starch-hydrolyzing activity, however, increased in maltose-hydrolyzing activity by 2.1 and 4.9 times higher than that of the native form of M. javanicus alpha-glucosidase, respectively. The chimeric enzymes changed on the V(max) values for maltose significantly, whereas the K(m) values were similar to that of the native enzyme. (+info)
Cloning and nucleotide sequence of the glutamate decarboxylase-encoding gene gadA from Aspergillus oryzae.
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We cloned a genomic DNA encoding the glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) from Aspergillus oryzae using a 200-bp DNA fragment as the probe. This DNA fragment was amplified by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction with mRNA of A. oryzae as the template and degenerate primers designed from the conserved amino acid sequence of Escherichia coli GAD and Arabidopsis thaliana GAD. Nucleotide sequencing analysis showed that the cloned gene (designated gadA) encoded 514 amino acid residues and contained three introns. Southern hybridization showed that the gadA gene was on a 6.0-kb SacI fragment and that there was a single copy in the A. oryzae chromosome. The cloned gene was functional, because one transformant of A. oryzae containing multiple copies of the gadA gene had 10-fold the GAD activity and a 12-fold increase in gamma-aminobutyric acid production compared with the control strain. (+info)
Nuclease S1 cleavage and the primary structure of mitochondrial DNA.
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The single-strand-specific nuclease S1 from Aspergillus oryzae rapidly converts superhelical mitochondrial DNA (African Green Monkey cells, Vero ATCC; CCL 81) into nicked circular DNA. These nicked mitochondrial DNA molecules contain two nicks, one in each strand. The phosphodiester backbones are cleaved during this reaction at or near sites that are alkali-labile. In a second slow reaction the circular mitochondrial DNA is converted into a linear duplex DNA. Permutation tests indicate that this linear DNA represents a nonpermutated collection of DNA molecules. These results suggest that two of the alkai-labile sites in the phosphodiester backbones of the mitochondrial chromosome are closely spaced on opposite strands and at specific positions. (+info)
Purification and properties of the nuclease inhibitor of Aspergillus oryzae and kinetics of its interaction with crystalline nuclease O.
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A nuclease inhibitor found in the mycelia of Aspergillus oryzae has been purified 158,000-fold by ammonium sulfate precipitation, chromatography on Sephadex G-75, DEAE-Sephadex A-50 and Bio-Gel p-60 columns, preparative disc electrophoresis on acrylamide gel, and electrofocusing in ampholite. The purified inhibitor is nearly homogeneous as judged by disc electrophoresis. It shows a typical ultraviolet absorption curve for protein, and the inhibitory activity is inactivated by chymotrypsin. The inhibitor and nuclease O (EC 3.1.4.9, a crystalline enzyme from the mycelia of the same organism) form a stable enzyme inhibitor complex. The molecular weights of nuclease O, the inhibitor and the enzyme inhibitor complex are estimated to be 46,000, 22,000 and 73,000 respectively, by Sephadex G-100 gel filtration. The isoelectric points of the enzyme and the inhibitor are 10.0 and 4.09, respectively, as determined by electrofocusing in ampholite. The inhibition is noncompetitive, and the inhibitor constant (K1) is 3.2 X 10(-12) M, whereas the Michaelis constant (Km) for DNA is 2.2 X 10(-8) M. The inactive enzyme-inhibitor complex is reactivated by chymotrypsin through inactivation of the inhibitor. The reactivated enzyme can be inactivated again by the inhibitor, which shows that desensitization of the enzyme does not occur by the action of chymotrypsin. (+info)
Cloning and overexpression of beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase encoding gene nagA from Aspergillus oryzae and enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of human milk oligosaccharide.
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We isolated a beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase encoding gene from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae, and designated it nagA. The nagA gene encoded a polypeptide of 600 amino acids with significant similarity to glucosaminidases and hexosaminidases of various eukaryotes. A. oryzae strain carrying the nagA gene under the control of the improved glaA promoter produced large amounts of beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase in a wheat bran solid culture. The beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase was purified from crude extracts of the solid culture by column chromatographies on Q-Sepharose and Sephacryl S-200. This enzyme was used for synthesis of lacto-N-triose II, which is contained in human milk. By reverse hydrolysis reaction, lacto-N-triose II and its positional isomer were synthesized from lactose and D-N-acetylglucosamine in 0.21% and 0.15% yield, respectively. (+info)
Sepcific fragmentation of DNA heteroduplex molecules of two bacteriophage lambda mutants with endonuclease Si from Aspergillus oryzae.
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Heteroduplex DNA molecules of two bacteriophage mutants (lambda b2 and lambda i434ct68) were obtained by the method of molecular hybridization. These heteroduplexes possessed two types of loops formed as a result of: a) deletion in one of the DNA strands; and b) substitution of a DNA fragment for nonhomological one. The digestion of heteroduplexes with single-stranded specific nuclease SI from Aspergillus oryzae produced two fragments at 37 degrees C and three ones at 55 degrees C. The separation of fragments and determination of their molecular weight were carried out by means of electrophoresis in agarose. The molecular weights both measured and preliminarily calculated proved to be close. One of the fragments was identificated by its biological activity in CaCl2-dependent infectious system with helperphage. (+info)
Substrate specificities of deuterolysin from Aspergillus oryzae and electron paramagnetic resonance measurement of cobalt-substituted deuterolysin.
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The substrate specificities of deuterolysin, a 19-kDa zinc-protease (EC 3.4.24.39) from Aspergillus oryzae, were investigated at pH 9.0 with various fluorogenic acyl-peptide-4-methylcoumaryl-7-amides (peptide-MCAs). N-Butoxycarbonyl-Arg-Val-Arg-Arg-MCA was the best substrate for deuterolysin. We therefore measured its kinetic parameters. Deuterolysin had high activity toward the peptide bonds next to pairs of basic residues in calf thymus histone H4. The specificity of cobalt-substituted deuterolysin (Co-deuterolysin) for peptide-MCAs was similar to that of native deuterolysin. The CD spectrum of Co-deuterolysin was similar to that of the native deuterolysin. The metal coordination sphere of Co-deuterolysin was analyzed by Q-band (33.9570 GHz) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Using computer simulation of EPR, we found the g principal values to be g(xx) = 5.20, g(yy) = 4.75, and g(zz) = 2.24; the metal center was a divalent cobalt ion in a high spin state. (+info)