The instant application contains a Sequence Listing which has been submitted in ASCII format via EFS-Web and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Said ASCII copy is named GBAB059_Sequence_Listing.txt, created on Feb. 28, 2021 and is 4,443 bytes in size.
The invention is related to finding a novel polynucleotide sequence (gene), revealing a novel polypeptide (enzyme/protein) encoded by this polynucleotide sequence and the production and purification of this polypeptide and defining the function thereof.
The invention is particularly related to establishing a novel esterase enzyme that can be used in the industry and that is obtained by molecular biological methods from the microflora of Ac1göl (Aci Lake) located in Denizli.
The invention is related to the production and usage of host cells and esterases that comprise vectors and esterase enzymes and artificially obtained nucleic acid.
Microorganisms have been used for a long time in the production of biomolecules that are significantly important to the industry. Approaches depending on traditional culture as a fundamental strategy have been used for many years in order to convey the potentials of these microorganisms. However, only a very small amount of microorganisms in the world can be cultured. This means that we cannot benefit from the remaining large amounts of microorganisms by using traditional culturing methods. Therefore, the metagenomic approach comes in handy at this point. Initially in 1998, “metagenome” has been defined as the “total genome of soil microflora” and its definition has then been extended to cover all environmental medium in which microbic activities such as human and animal excretion take place, such as sea, lakes, thermal springs, acid mining drainage sites and wastewater sites etc. (Handelsman et al. 1998; Venter et al. 2004; Hardeman and Sjöling, 2007; Rhee et al. 2005; Tirawongsaroj et al. 2008; Tyson et al. 2004; Jones et al. 2011; Roh and Vilatte, 2008; Althani et al. 2016; Ilmberger et al. 2014; Amimo et al. 2016). In studies where the metagenomic approach has been used, the cells located inside the environmental samples are used directly without the need for separating them from the medium they are located in and without the need for identifying these cells. By this means a maximum variety of genomic material can be obtained.
Esterase and lipase which are lipolytic enzymes are present in the hydrolase group enzymes that form the majority of the enzymes that are used in the industry. In the energy industry, they are used in the esterification of free fatty acids with alcohol in the production of biodiesel or the transesterification of triacylglycerides. Exemplary applications in the food industry comprise the enhancement of aroma and taste, enhancement of dough characteristics, and improving EPA and DHA rates in fish oil. Esterase and lipases are also provided as enzymes that play a critical role in catalyzing several different reactions in the detergent, pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields. Detailed reviews related to the current status of lipolytic enzymes can be found in the literature (Houde et al, 2004; Panda and Gowrishankar, 2005; Ribeiro et al, 2011; Borrelli and Trono, 2015).
Several lipase and esterase enzymes have been isolated from different organisms until today and they have been characterized and some of these have been industrially produced and used. More active and robust enzymes have been obtained using various protein engineering techniques and extremophilic organisms. However, enzymes that have new characteristics are still required (Hasan et al, 2009; Borrelli and Trono, 2015). When we contemplate industrially, when high amounts of the enzyme are required, we realize that production costs are a significant limiting factor. Moreover, enzyme inhibition due to glycerol, small chain alcohols or other agents appears to be a problem that needs to be overcome (Ribeiro et al, 2011). Daiha et al. (2015) have prepared a report which compiles the fields of application, patents and research articles that comprise the usage and production of these enzymes since the 1930s, which is the date that these lipolytic enzymes have been initially discovered. They have studied the necessity of novel lipolytic enzymes by using a method called “Technological life cycle”. According to analysis results, it has been determined that novel lipolytic enzymes are still required in the industry.
In the Chinese patent document numbered CN102286441 of the prior art, low-temperature esterase enzyme, encoding gene and usage thereof is disclosed. The novel esterase gene subject to the invention has been extracted from the metagenomic library of the abyssal deposit taken from the Pacific Ocean and it has been determined that the protein encoded by the gene has enzymatic features.
In the Chinese patent document numbered CN101402947 of the prior art, a novel esterase gene named Est_p1 and the recombination expression system of this gene is disclosed. The gene has been encoded from the metagenomic library of the sludge 100 meters below the South China Sea. The gene has a length of 891 bp and which encodes a protein at an amino acid length of 296, has been produced using a recombination expression system called pET28a-Est_p1/BL21. The molecular weight of the target protein is 33.5 kD. In the activity assay carried out with pNP-butyric ester, it has been proved that Est_p1 is an alkali esterase. Est_p1 has strong catalytic activity for short chain esters and can be used in esterification and transesterification industries.
In the Korean patent document numbered KR101400903 of the prior art a novel esterase that has been isolated from the compost metagenomic library has been disclosed. In the invention of an encoding gene, a recombinant vector comprising the gene, a transformant transformed with an expression vector and a production method for esterase is described. Esterase displays perfect activity between pH 5 and 10 and preferably at pH 8. It maintains esterase activity between 0 to 60° C.
Although there are several lipolytic enzymes present in the art, novel enzymes are still required. Therefore, the development of a polynucleotide sequence encoding a local sourced and novel esterase is planned. As it has been mentioned above, methods depending on culturing limit the variety of microorganisms, and therefore, beneficial biomolecule numbers obtained from them. In the study that has been developed a metagenomic method has been used and this problem has been overcome.
The metagenomic method has been used for several years in order to reach this aim. The most important characteristic of this invention is that the polynucleotide sequence obtained with the metagenomic method has been revealed for the first time with this invention.
The invention aims to find a novel polynucleotide sequence (gene), create a novel polypeptide (enzyme/protein) encoded by this polynucleotide sequence and to produce and purify this polypeptide and define the function thereof.
Another aim of the invention is to establish a novel esterase enzyme that can be used in the industry and that is obtained by molecular biological methods from the microflora of Ac1göl (Aci Lake) located in Denizli.
Another aim of the invention is to provide an esterase enzyme that exhibits high activity at low temperatures, metal tolerance, and has usage potential in the industry due to its organic solution stability.
The enzyme subject to the invention has been obtained by means of the process steps mentioned below.
1. Metagenomic DNA isolation: In this invention, first of all, samples have been collected from Ac1göl under sterile conditions, pre-enrichment has been applied in order to increase the cell number and metagenomic DNA has been obtained isolated.
2. Primer design and degenerate polymerase chain reaction: The polynucleotide sequences which encode lipolytic proteins from halophilic microorganisms found in the natural flora of Ac1göl have been obtained from the NCBI database and they have been sequenced as a list used bioinformatic tools and the conserved sites have been determined. Degenerate primers have been designed to target these sites and a part of the polynucleotide sequence has been obtained by a polymerase chain reaction.
3. Genome walking: All of the partial polynucleotide sequences has been clarified. The obtained polynucleotide sequence (gene) has been shown in SEQ ID NO: 1, and the protein encoded by this gene has been shown in SEQ ID NO: 2.
4. Bioinformatic analysis of the sequence: The novel gene sequence that has been obtained has been compared in terms of similarity with the sequences that have been discovered before, from the present sequences in the NCBI database.
5. Cloning of the gene, protein expression and purification: After all the gene sequence has been obtained, the gene has been reproduced by means of polymerase chain reaction using primers that contain the restriction sites of EcoRI and HindIII. Both the reproduced gene and the pET-28a(+) vector has been cut off with the same enzymes and the vector and the insert has been bound together and it has been transformed into E. coli C43(DE3) cells which is an expression cell.
6. Standard activity test: Activity has been measured based on the pNP measurement that is obtained by the hydrolysis of the paranitfrophenol (pNP) esters by the enzyme (Winkler and Stuckmann, 1979). The final concentration of the enzyme and substrate have been 1 μM and 1 mM respectively and absorbance measurements have been taken at 410 nm. The activity has been calculated by means of the below formula and one unit of activity has been defined as the enzyme amount which produces 1 μmol product in 1 minute.
Activity (U/L)=[(ΔAbs/t)/(ε*d)]*106*Vt/Vs
7. Substrate specificity test: pNP esters (pNP-butyrate, pNP-hexanoate, pNP-octanoate, pNP-decanoate, pNP-dodecanoate and pNP-hexadecanoate) having different carbon chain lengths have been used in order to measure the reaction of the enzyme against different substrates and Michaelis Menten kinetic parameters have been calculated. The reactions have been set up to comprise 0.031, 0.0625, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 mM substrates and GraFit 7.0 program was used for calculations.
8. Measuring the activity and stability of the enzyme under different conditions: Reactions have been carried out in buffer solutions (50 mM citrate/phosphate buffer, pH 6; 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer, pH 7, 8 and 8.5; 50 mM glycine-NaOH buffer, pH 9, 9.5 and 10) having different pH values in order to determine the optimum pH value in which the enzyme works. Moreover, in order to measure the pH stability of the enzyme, the enzyme has been incubated for 24 hours before reaction in these buffer solutions and the activity value remaining at the end of the incubation has been calculated.
The reaction has been carried out under different temperatures (5° C.-70° C.) in order to determine the optimum temperature in which the enzyme works efficiently, and the activity has been measured. In order to determine the thermal stability of the enzyme, the enzyme has been incubated for 20 minutes between 25° C.-80° C. temperature and the remaining activity has been measured according to standard tests.
The effect of sodium chloride on the activity (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% NaCl) and the stability (10%, 15%, 20% and 25% NaCl) of the enzyme has been determined similarly. The enzyme has been incubated in a buffer solution comprising sodium chloride at the defined amounts for 24 hours during stability tests.
Additionally, the effect of different solutions (hexane, chloroform, acetone, dimethyl formamide (DMF), dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), 2-propanol, butanol, 1-propanol, ethanol, methanol and glycerol) on the activity and stability of the enzyme have been measured. In the activity tests, 10% solution has been added into the reaction and in the stability tests the enzyme has been incubated for 24 hours in a buffer solution containing 15% and 30% solution.
The effect of metal ions (MgCl2, FeSO4, KCl, CaCl2), ZnSO4, Al2SO4, CuSO4, CoCl2, NiCl2, MnSO4, AgNO3), some detergents (sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), cetrimonium bromide (CTAB), Triton X-100, Tween-80, Nonidet-P40) and inhibition agents (phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), dithiothreitol (DTT), ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) and ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA) on the enzyme activity has been examined.
The obtained novel polynucleotide sequence encodes a functional polypeptide sequence. It has been noted that polypeptide had esterase activity following its successful production, purification and characterization and that it has some characteristics that are important in terms of industry. These characteristics have been listed below.
1. The polynucleotide sequence that has been obtained is formed of 260 amino acids that have a length of 783 base pairs (SEQ ID NO: 1). The gene sequence resembles a part of the Halolamina sediminis genome by 75% (NCBI Accession Number: CP018139.1). The amino acid sequence resembles the esterase of Halomonas gudaonensis by 91% (SDJ79551.1). As a result, it has been noted that a novel enzyme that has not been identified before from an environmental sample, has been cloned successfully.
Halolamina sediminis strain Hb3,
Halomonas elongato DSM 2581,
Halomonas chromatireductens strain
Halomonas sp. R57-5 genome
Halomonas sp. 1513,
Halomonas subglaciescola strain
Halomonas sp. KO116,
Halomonas sp. HL-93
Cohetia marina strain JCM 21022,
2. The polynucleotide sequence (gene) which encodes the enzyme has been transferred to the pET-28a(+) vector which enables the production of protein in high yields using suitable molecular biological techniques. This vector that has been formed is transferred to E. coli (C43) cells which are expression cells and high amounts of protein have been expressed. Recombinant produced protein has been obtained in a pure manner using the His-tag purification method. By this means the re-production of protein has been enabled. It has been determined that the obtained protein amount was generally around 30 mg per 1 liter of the culture used.
3. It has been determined that the enzyme worked best at pH 9 value. The enzyme has maintained its stability up to pH 10. Being functional in alkali medium is an important feature in the usage of such enzymes in detergent formulations (Lopez et al, 2014).
4. The enzyme has shown the best activity at 30° C. and has maintained 47% of its maximum activity in 5° C. and has maintained 63% of its activity at 15° C. This feature is very important in order to reduce energy costs in the biotechnology industry. While high temperature is required in order to obtain the desired products in some reactions that do not contain enzymes, the same product can be obtained under low temperatures with enzymes that show function in cold temperatures. Such enzymes are required in the production of detergents and food, for the bioremediation of seas or lands, or reactions where volatile compounds that are susceptible to temperatures are used (Lopez et al, 2014).
5. When the thermal stability was examined it has been observed that the enzyme maintained the stability up to 55° C.
6. When the activity of the enzyme has been examined in the presence of 10% solvents, it has been noted that it showed high activity in the presence of DMSO or methanol (92% and 81% respectively). The activity has increased by 4% in the presence of glycerol. It has also been determined that the enzyme has a stable structure in stability tests carried out in the presence of a solvent solution. The reactions that are carried out in the presence of an organic solution have advantages such as high solubility of hydrophobic materials in such mediums, not having any by-products due to the exclusion of water molecules and thermodynamic balance which shifts from hydrolysis to synthesis (Salihu and Alam, 2015).
7. The activity of the enzyme has been measured in the presence of various metal ions and it has been noted that it showed much higher activity according to several similar enzymes in literature.
By means of the invention:
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2018/11617 | Aug 2018 | TR | national |
This application is the national stage entry of International Application No. PCT/TR2019/050646, filed on Aug. 2, 2019, which is based upon and claims priority to Turkish Patent Application No. 2018/11617, filed on Aug. 9, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/TR2019/050646 | 8/2/2019 | WO | 00 |