Establishment of a hyper-protein production system in submerged Aspergillus oryzae culture under tyrosinase-encoding gene (melO) promoter control.

UV-mediated mutagenesis generated a high glucoamylase-producing mutant of Aspergillus oryzae exhibiting strong melanization in solid-state culture. Expression of the glucoamylase-encoding gene (glaB), which is specifically expressed in solid-state culture, and the tyrosinase-encoding gene (melO), was analyzed using an E. coli beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter assay to investigate this phenomenon. Although no common regulation was found for melO and glaB expression, the former was greatly enhanced in submerged culture. Interestingly, the melO promoter was about four times stronger for GUS production than the powerful promoters amyB, glaA, and modified agdA, previously isolated for industrial heterologous gene expression in A. oryzae. These findings indicated that the melO promoter would be suitable for hyper-production of heterologous protein in Aspergillus. The glaB-type glucoamylase selected as the target protein was produced in a submerged culture of A. oryzae under the control of the melO promoter. The maximum yield was 0.8 g/l broth, and the total extracellular protein purity was 99%. Repeated batch culture, to improve productivity, gave a maximum yield of 3.3 g/l broth. The importance of this work is in the establishment of a both high-level and high-purity protein overproduction system in A. oryzae by use of the melO promoter.

Identification of N-terminal autodigestion target site in subtilisin ALP I.

Autodigestion of subtilisin ALP I (ALP I), secreted from the alkalophilic Bacillus sp. NKS-21 and its predicted amino acid sequence having about 60% identity with other alkaline subtilisins, was examined under alkaline conditions. At the alkaline pH of 12, ALP I was rapidly degraded, and almost no breakdown products were detectable. However, by incubating ALP I at 5 degrees C for an extended time, a couple of specific peptides (26.7 kDa and 25.6 kDa) were accumulated. Each of them was purified and amino acid sequences of these fragments were found. Both peptides appeared to start at Gly-19 of the mature sequence of ALP I.

Alkaline-resistance model of subtilisin ALP I, a novel alkaline subtilisin.

The alkaline-resistance mechanism of the alkaline-stable enzymes is not yet known. To clarify the mechanism of alkaline-resistance of alkaline subtilisin, structural changes of two typical subtilisins, subtilisin ALP I (ALP I) and subtilisin Sendai (Sendai), were studied by means of physicochemical methods. Subtilisin NAT (NAT), which exhibits no alkaline resistance, was examined as a control. ALP I gradually lost its activity, accompanied by protein degradation, but, on the contrary, Sendai was stable under alkaline conditions. CD spectral measurements at neutral and alkaline pH indicated no apparent differences between ALP I and Sendai. A significant difference was observed on measurement of fluorescence emission spectra of the tryptophan residues of ALP I that were exposed on the enzyme surface. The fluorescence intensity of ALP I was greatly reduced under alkaline conditions; moreover, the reduction was reversed when alkaline-treated ALP I was neutralized. The fluorescence spectrum of Sendai remained unchanged. The enzymatic and optical activities of NAT were lost at high pH, indicating a lack of functional and structural stability in an alkaline environment. Judging from these results, the alkaline resistance is closely related to the surface structure of the enzyme molecule.

Identification of copper ligands in Aspergillus oryzae tyrosinase by site-directed mutagenesis.

Copper ligands of the recombinant tyrosinase from the fungus Aspergillus oryzae expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae or Escherichia coli were identified by site-directed mutagenesis. The recombinant protyrosinases expressed in S. cerevisiae were assayed for catalytic activities of mono-oxygenase and L-dopa oxidase at pH 5.5 after acid shock at pH 3.0. Replacements of His-63, His-84, His-93, His-290, His-294, His-332 or His-333 with asparagine resulted in mutant enzymes exhibiting no activities. The site-directed mutant Cys82Ala showed that Cys-82 was also an essential residue for the activity. We obtained homogeneous preparations of activated tyrosinases from mutated thioredoxin fusion gene products expressed in E. coli by acid shock. The copper contents of engineered mutants and wild-type enzyme expressed in E. coli were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The wild-type enzyme contained 2 g-atoms of copper/mol of the subunit. The His63Asn, His84Asn, His93Asn, His290Asn, His294Asn, His332Asn, His333Asn or Cys82Ala substitution decreased copper binding by approx. 50%, indicating that the mutants contain only approx. 1 g-atom of copper/mol of the subunit. The five mutants His63Asn, His93Asn, His290Asn, His294Asn and Cys82Ala contain only one copper ion, which is fully detectable by EPR. From the correlation of g( parallel) and (Cu)A( parallel), we deduced that the nitrogen or sulphur donors in the copper ligands should be in a square or a distorted tetrahedral geometric environment. In further atomic absorption spectrophotometry experiments, no copper atom was observed in the seven double mutants His63Asn/His290Asn, His63Asn/His294Asn, His63Asn/His332Asn, His63Asn/His333Asn, Cys82Ala/His290Asn, His84Asn/His333Asn and His93Asn/His290Asn. We propose a new structure of active sites of tyrosinase from A. oryzae: the most likely binding sites of tyrosinase for Cu(A) are His-63, His-84 and His-93, with the remaining conserved Cys-82 providing the fourth ligand. Cu(B) liganded by four histidine residues, His-290, His-294, His-332 and His-333, is identified as new binding motif of Cu(B).

Miltpain, a cysteine proteinase, from milt of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus): purification and characterization.

Miltpain (EC.3.4.22.-) is a cysteine proteinase that preferentially hydrolyzes basic proteins, previously found in the milt of chum salmon. Here we report a similar cysteine proteinase in the milt of the marine Pacific cod. The enzyme was isolated and purified 6900-fold and with an estimated mass of 63 kDa by gel filtration chromatography and 72 kDa by SDS/PAGE. Cod miltpain has an optimum pH of 6.0 for Z-Arg-Arg-MCA hydrolysis, and Km of 11.5 microM and kcat of 19.0 s-1 with Z-Arg-Arg-MCA. It requires a thiol-inducing reagent for activation and is inhibited by E-64, iodoacetamide, CA-074, PCMB, NEM, TLCK, TPCK, ZPCK and o-phenanthroline. This proteinase strongly hydrolyzes basic proteins such as salmine, clupeine and histone, and exhibits unique substrate specificity toward paired basic residues such as Lys-Arg, Arg-Arg on the substrates of P2-P1. The isoelectric point is 5.2 by isoelectric focusing. N-Terminal sequencing gave a sequence of < EVPVEVVRXYVTSAPEK. The cysteine proteinase from Pacific cod very closely matches the previously reported miltpain from chum salmon.

Unique catalytic and molecular properties of hydrolases from Aspergillus used in Japanese bioindustries.

This review covers the unique catalytic and molecular properties of three proteolytic enzymes and a glycosidase from Aspergillus. An aspartic proteinase from A. saitoi, aspergillopepsin I (EC 3.4.23.18), favors hydrophobic amino acids at P1 and P'1 like gastric pepsin. However, aspergillopepsin I accommodates a Lys residue at P1, which leads to activation of trypsinogens like duodenum enteropeptidase. Substitution of Asp76 to Ser or Thr and deletion of Ser78, corresponding to the mammalian aspartic proteinases, cathepsin D and pepsin, caused drastic decreases in the activities towards substrates containing a basic amino acid residue at 1. In addition, the double mutant T77D/G78(S)G79 of porcine pepsin was able to activate bovine trypsinogen to trypsin by the selective cleavage of the K6-I7 bond of trypsinogen. Deuterolysin (EC 3.4.24.39) from A. oryzae, which contains 1g atom of zinc/mol of enzyme, is a single chain of 177 amino acid residues, includes three disulfide bonds, and has a molecular mass of 19,018 Da. It was concluded that His128, His132, and Asp164 provide the Zn2+ ligands of the enzyme according to a 65Zn binding assay. Deuterolysin is a member of a family of metalloendopeptidases with a new zinc-binding motif, aspzincin, defined by the "HEXXH + D" motif and an aspartic acid as the third zinc ligand. Acid carboxypeptidase (EC 3.4.16.1) from A. saitoi is a glycoprotein that contains both N- and O-linked sugar chains. Site-directed mutagenesis of the cpdS, cDNA encoding A. saitoi carboxypeptidase, was cloned and expressed. A. saitoi carboxypeptidase indicated that Ser153, Asp357, and His436 residues were essential for the enzymic catalysis. The N-glycanase released high-mannose type oligosaccharides that were separated on HPLC. Two, which had unique structures of Man10 GlcNAc2 and Man11GlcNAc2, were characterized. An acidic 1,2-alpha-mannosidase (EC 3.2.1.113) was isolated from the culture of A. saitoi. A highly efficient overexpression system of 1,2-alpha-mannosidase fusion gene (f-msdS) in A. oryzae was made. A yeast mutant capable of producing Man5GlcNAc2 human-compatible sugar chains on glycoproteins was constructed. An expression vector for 1,2-alpha-mannosidase with the "HDEL" endoplasmic reticulum retention/retrieval tag was designed and expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The first report of production of human-compatible high mannose-type (Man5GlcNAc2) sugar chains in S. cerevisiae was described.

Characterization of chimeric enzymes constructed between two distinct alpha-amylase cDNAs from cultured rice cells.

Cultured cells of rice (Oryza sativa cv Sasanishiki) produce two alpha-amylase isozymes, AMY-I and AMY-III. Using a bacterial expression system, eight chimeric genes constructed with various combination of AMY-I and AMY-III cDNA fragments were expressed, and each recombinant chimeric protein was characterized. Four of the eight recombinant enzymes having region c (one of the four regions having unconserved base sequences between AMY-I and AMY-III cDNAs) of AMY-I showed the same enzyme characteristics as that of native AMY-I, which had high temperature optimum at 50 degrees C. The other four chimeric proteins carrying region c of AMY-III showed the AMY-III type characteristics, which were a low temperature optimum at 25 degrees C and susceptibility to a higher maltooligosaccharide (G17) substrate. The unconserved region c is involved in the decision of the characteristic of AMY-I or AMY-III.

Aspzincin, a family of metalloendopeptidases with a new zinc-binding motif. Identification of new zinc-binding sites (His(128), His(132), and Asp(164)) and three catalytically crucial residues (Glu(129), Asp(143), and Tyr(106)) of deuterolysin from Aspergillus oryzae by site-directed mutagenesis.

Deuterolysin (EC 3.4.24.39; formerly designated as neutral proteinase II) from Aspergillus oryzae, which contains 1 g atom of zinc/mol of enzyme, is a single chain of 177 amino acid residues, includes three disulfide bonds, and has a molecular mass of 19,018 Da. Active-site determination of the recombinant enzyme expressed in Escherichia coli was performed by site-directed mutagenesis. Substitutions of His(128) and His(132) with Arg, of Glu(129) with Gln or Asp, of Asp(143) with Asn or Glu, of Asp(164) with Asn, and of Tyr(106) with Phe resulted in almost complete loss of the activity of the mutant enzymes. It can be concluded that His(128), His(132), and Asp(164) provide the Zn(2+) ligands of the enzyme according to a (65)Zn binding assay. Based on site-directed mutagenesis experiments, it was demonstrated that the three essential amino acid residues Glu(129), Asp(143), and Tyr(106) are catalytically crucial residues in the enzyme. Glu(129) may be implicated in a central role in the catalytic function. We conclude that deuterolysin is a member of a family of Zn(2+) metalloendopeptidases with a new zinc-binding motif, aspzincin, defined by the "HEXXH + D" motif and an aspartic acid as the third zinc ligand.

Molecular and enzymic properties of recombinant 1, 2-alpha-mannosidase from Aspergillus saitoi overexpressed in Aspergillus oryzae cells.

For the construction of an overexpression system of the intracellular 1,2-alpha-mannosidase (EC 3.2.1.113) gene (msdS) from Aspergillus saitoi (now designated Aspergillus phoenicis), the N-terminal signal sequence of the gene was replaced with that of the aspergillopepsin I (EC 3.4.23.18) gene (apnS) signal, one of the same strains as described previously. Then the fused 1, 2-alpha-mannosidase gene (f-msdS) was inserted into the NotI site between P-No8142 and T-agdA in the plasmid pNAN 8142 (9.5 kbp) and thus the Aspergillus oryzae expression plasmid pNAN-AM1 (11.2 kbp) was constructed. The fused f-msdS gene has been overexpressed in a transformant A. oryzae niaD AM1 cell. The recombinant enzyme expressed in A. oryzae cells was purified to homogeneity in two steps. The system is capable of making as much as about 320 mg of the enzyme/litre of culture. The recombinant enzyme has activity with methyl-2-O-alpha-d-mannopyranosyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside at pH 5.0, while no activity was determined with methyl-3-O-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside or methyl-6-O-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl alpha-D-mannopyranoside. The substrate specificity of the enzyme was analysed by using pyridylaminated (PA)-oligomannose-type sugar chains, Man9-6(GlcNAc)2-PA (Man is mannose; GlcNAc is N-acetylglucosamine). The enzyme hydrolysed Man8GlcNAc2-PA (type 'M8A') fastest, and 'M6C' {Manalpha1-3[Manalpha1-2Manalpha1-3(Manalpha1-6) Manalpha1-6]Manbeta1- 4GlcNAcbeta1-4GlcNAc-PA} slowest, among the PA-sugar chains. Molecular-mass values of the enzyme were determined to be 63 kDa by SDS/PAGE and 65 kDa by gel filtration on Superose 12 respectively. The pI value of the enzyme was 4.6. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the enzyme was GSTQSRADAIKAAFSHAWDGYLQY, and sequence analysis indicated that the signal peptide from apnS gene was removed. The molar absorption coefficient, epsilon, at 280 nm was determined as 91539 M-1.cm-1. Contents of the secondary structure (alpha-helix, beta-structure and the remainder of the enzyme) by far-UV CD determination were about 55, 38 and 7% respectively. The melting temperature, Tm, of the enzyme was 71 degrees C by differential scanning calorimetry. The calorimetric enthalpy, DeltaHcal, of the enzyme was calculated as 13.3 kJ.kg of protein-1. Determination of 1 g-atom of Ca2+/mol of enzyme was performed by atomic-absorption spectrophotometry.

Production of human compatible high mannose-type (Man5GlcNAc2) sugar chains in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A yeast mutant capable of producing Man5GlcNAc2 human compatible sugar chains on glycoproteins was constructed. An expression vector for alpha-1,2-mannosidase with the "HDEL" endoplasmic reticulum retention/retrieval tag was designed and expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. An in vitro alpha-1,2-mannosidase assay and Western blot analysis showed that it was successfully localized in the endoplasmic reticulum. A triple mutant yeast lacking three glycosyltransferase activities was then transformed with an alpha-1, 2-mannosidase expression vector. The oligosaccharide structures of carboxypeptidase Y as well as cell surface glycoproteins were analyzed, and the recombinant yeast was shown to produce a series of high mannose-type sugar chains including Man5GlcNAc2. This is the first report of a recombinant S. cerevisiae able to produce Man5GlcNAc2-oligosaccharides, the intermediate for hybrid-type and complex-type sugar chains.

Isolation and characterization of cDNA encoding chicken egg yolk aminopeptidase Ey.

Aminopeptidase Ey (EC 3.4.11.20) from chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) egg yolk is a homodimeric exopeptidase with a broad specificity for N-terminal amino acid residues at P1 position of the substrate. Aminopeptidase Ey is a 300-k metalloexopeptidase, containing 1.0 g atom of zinc per mole of a subunit with a relative molecular mass of 150 k. A full-length cDNA was cloned from chicken (female) liver cDNA library. Analysis of the 3196-base pairs (bp) nucleotide sequence of the cDNA revealed a single open reading frame coding for 967 amino acid residues. The coding region of aminopeptidase Ey gene, apdE, occupies 2901 bp of the cDNA. The predicted amino acid sequence of the enzyme is 66, 65, 64 and 63% identical with those of aminopeptidases N (EC 3.4.11.2) from human, pig, rabbit and rat, respectively. Aminopeptidase Ey contains the metallo-binding sequence motif, His-Glu-Xaa-His, found in zinc metallopeptidases. Zinc binding sites, His-386, His-390 and Glu-409, and catalytic site, Glu-387, were conserved in the homologous aminopeptidases N.

Overproduction of 1,2-alpha-mannosidase, a glycochain processing enzyme, by Aspergillus oryzae.

A recombinant strain of Aspergillus oryzae has been constructed in which 1,2-alpha-mannosidase, an intracellular glycochain processing enzyme with specificity toward 1,2-alpha-mannosidic linkages, has been overexpressed. For the construction, the N-terminal signal-encoding sequence of the 1,2-alpha-mannosidase gene (msdC) from Penicillium citrinum was replaced with that of the aspergillopepsin I signal, and the fused gene was inserted between amyB promoter-terminator elements in the expression plasmid pTAPM1. A transformant of A. oryzae (the strain PM-1) secreted a great deal of heterogeneous 1,2-alpha-mannosidase into the culture media, which was purified by CM ion-exchange chromatography. Approximately 21 mg of the purified enzyme was obtained per liter of culture. N-terminal amino acid analysis indicated that the signal peptide was removed from the secreted enzyme. The Penicillium 1,2-alpha-mannosidase expressed in A. oryzae did not show any notable difference from the enzyme from P. citrinum in such properties as M(r), specific activity, CD spectra, or kinetic parameters. Man7GlcNAc2 accumulated temporarily during the degradation of Man9GlcNAc2 to Man5GlcNAc2 by fungal 1,2-alpha-mannosidase.

Action of serine carboxypeptidase from paecilomyces carneus on oligopeptides containing carboxy-terminally amidated peptides

Paecilomyces carneus carboxypeptidase sequentially liberated amino acids from the carboxy-terminus of neurotensin, angiotensin I, bradykinin, and delta sleep-inducing peptide, indicating that the sequential hydrolysis of peptides was limited by the occurrence of intermediates with the structure of -Gly-X (X = L-amino acid), -Pro-X, -X-Gly, and -X-Pro. The enzyme had carboxyamidase and/or amidase activities for the carboxy-terminally amidated peptides. The enzyme essentially acted as a carboxyamidase for the long carboxy-terminally amidated peptides; an amidase became dominant for the substrates in the presence of bulky amino acids such as Arg, Met, Leu, and Phe in the penultimate (P1) and P2 positions, corresponding with the S1 and S2 sites of the enzyme, and the P3 position of carboxy-terminally amidated peptides played a significant role in the action as a carboxyamidase or a amidase.

Five crucial carboxyl residues of 1,2-alpha-mannosidase from Aspergillus saitoi (A. phoenicis), a food microorganism, are identified by site-directed mutagenesis.

An acidic 1,2-alpha-mannosidase from fungus, Aspergillus saitoi (now designated Aspergillus phoenicis), is highly specific for 1,2-alpha-mannosidic linkage in the high-mannose type oligosaccharide at pH 5.0. The predicted amino acid sequence of several peptide regions, including aspartic acid and glutamic acid, bears striking similarities to 1,2-alpha-mannosidases from fungi, yeast and mouse. Active site determination of the enzyme expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells was performed by site-directed mutagenesis. Substitutions of Asp-269 to Glu and of the Glu-residues, Glu-273, Glu-411, Glu-414 and Glu-474, to Asp altered the drastic decrease of specific activities with Man alpha 1-2Man-OMe and Man9-GlcNAc2-PA as substrates and shifted the optimal pH of the mutant enzymes. From the present results, Asp-269 is probably in the ionized COO- form, whereas one of four glutamic acid residues, probably Glu-411, is the un-ionized COOH form according to the analogy of a plausible mechanism for lysozyme catalysis. It is assumed that three glutamic acid residues, Glu-273, Glu-414, and Glu-474, are probably binding sites of substrate.

Engineering of porcine pepsin. Alteration of S1 substrate specificity of pepsin to those of fungal aspartic proteinases by site-directed mutagenesis.

The S1 substrate specificity of porcine pepsin has been altered to resemble that of fungal aspartic proteinase with preference for a basic amino acid residue in P1 by site directed mutagenesis. On the basis of primary and tertiary structures of aspartic proteinases, the active site-flap mutants of porcine pepsin were constructed, which involved the replacement of Thr-77 by Asp (T77D), the insertion of Ser between Gly-78 and Ser-79 (G78(S)S79), and the double mutation (T77D/G78(S)S79). The specificities of the mutants were determined using p-nitrophenylalanine-based substrates containing a Phe or Lys residue at the P1 position. The double mutant cleaved the Lys-Phe(4-NO2) bonds, while wild-type enzyme digested other bonds. In addition, the pH dependence of hydrolysis of Lys-containing substrates by the double mutant indicates that the interactions between Asp-77 of the mutant and P1 Lys contribute to the transition state stabilization. The double mutant was also able to activate bovine trypsinogen to trypsin by the selective cleavage of the Lys6-Ile7 bond of trypsinogen. Results of this study suggest that the structure of the active site flap contributes to the S1 substrate specificity for basic amino acid residues in aspartic proteinases.

Miltpain, new cysteine proteinase from the milt of chum salmon, Oncorhynchus keta.

A new cysteine proteinase, salmon miltpain, was isolated and purified from the milt of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta). Native molecular mass was estimated as 67,000 by gel filtration column chromatography (Shodex WS2003) and 22,300 by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Isoelectoric point was determined to be 3.9 by isoelectric focusing. The first 15 amino acid residues in the N-terminal region were LPSFLY-AEMVGYNIL. The cysteine proteinase, which had a pH optimum of 6.0 for Z-Arg-Arg-MCA hydrolysis, required a thiol-reducing reagent for activation and was inhibited by E-64, iodacetamide, CA-074 Me, TLCK, TPCK and ZPCK. The cysteine proteinase exhibited unique substrate specificity toward paired basic residues such as Lys-Arg, Arg-Arg at the subsites of P2-P1 and had a K(m) of 16.3 microM and kcat of 20.3 s-1 with Z-Arg-Arg-MCA as substrate and a K(m) of 52.9 microM and kcat of 1.79 s-1 with Z-Phe-Arg-MCA. This proteinase was found to considerably hydrolyze basic proteins such as histone, salmine and clupaine but not milk casein.

Characterization of the S1 subsite specificity of aspergillopepsin I by site-directed mutagenesis.

The structural determinants of S1 substrate specificity of aspergillopepsin I (API; EC 3.4.23.18), an aspartic proteinase from Aspergillus saitoi, were investigated by site-directed mutagenesis. Aspartic proteinases generally favor hydrophobic amino acids at P1 and P1'. However, API accommodates a Lys residue at P1, which leads to activation of trypsinogen. On the basis of amino acid sequence alignments of aspartic proteinases, Asp-76 and Ser-78 of API are conserved only in fungal enzymes with the ability to activate trypsinogen, and are located in the active-site flap. Site-directed mutants (D76N, D76E, D76S, D76T, S78A, and delta S78) were constructed, overexpressed in Escherichia coli cells and purified for comparative studies using natural and synthetic substrates. Substitution of Asp-76 to Ser or Thr and deletion of Ser-78, corresponding to the mammalian aspartic proteinases, caused drastic decreases in the activities towards substrates containing a basic amino acid residue at P1. In contrast, substrates with a hydrophobic residue at P1 were effectively hydrolyzed by each mutant enzyme. These results demonstrate that Asp-76 and Ser-78 residues on the active site flap play important roles in the recognition of a basic amino acid residue at the P1 position.

Production, purification, and properties of serine carboxypeptidase from Paecilomyces carneus.

Seventeen strains of the genus Paecilomyces were examined for their ability to produce serine carboxypeptidase. Paecilomyces carneus IFO 7012 exhibited the highest potency for serine carboxypeptidase production. A maximum yield of serine carboxypeptidase was obtained by koji culture of the strain at 22 degrees C for 7 days. The serine carboxypeptidase was purified to homogeneity from an extract of the koji culture. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 47,000 by HPLC. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was determined to be 4.0, and the optimum pH was 4.0 toward benzyloxycarbonyl-L-glutamyl-L-tyrosine (Z-Glu-Tyr) and benzyloxycarbonyl-L-phenylalanyl-L-alanine (Z-Phe-Ala), respectively. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and p-chloromercurybenzoate. Relative hydrolysis rates of N-acylpeptides and kinetic studies indicated that the enzyme preferred substrates having bulky amino acids in the penultimate position from their carboxy-termini.

HKR1 encodes a cell surface protein that regulates both cell wall beta-glucan synthesis and budding pattern in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

We previously isolated the Saccharomyces cerevisiae HKR1 gene that confers on S. cerevisiae cells resistance to HM-1 killer toxin secreted by Hansenula mrakii (S. Kasahara, H. Yamada, T. Mio, Y. Shiratori, C. Miyamoto, T. Yabe, T. Nakajima, E. Ichishima, and Y. Furuichi, J. Bacteriol. 176:1488-1499, 1994). HKR1 encodes a type 1 membrane protein that contains a calcium-binding consensus sequence (EF hand motif) in the cytoplasmic domain. Although the null mutation of HKR1 is lethal, disruption of the 3' part of the coding region, which would result in deletion of the cytoplasmic domain of Hkr1p, did not affect the viability of yeast cells. This partial disruption of HKR1 significantly reduced beta-1,3-glucan synthase activity and the amount of beta-1,3-glucan in the cell wall and altered the axial budding pattern of haploid cells. Neither chitin synthase activity nor chitin content was significantly affected in the cells harboring the partially disrupted HKR1 allele. Immunofluorescence microscopy with an antibody raised against Hkr1p expressed in Escherichia coli revealed that Hkr1p was predominantly localized on the cell surface. The cell surface localization of Hkr1p required the N-terminal signal sequence because the C-terminal half of Hkr1p was detected uniformly in the cells. These results demonstrate that HKR1 encodes a cell surface protein that regulates both cell wall beta-glucan synthesis and budding pattern and suggest that bud site assembly is somehow related to beta-glucan synthesis in S. cerevisiae.

Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence of the 90k serine protease gene, hspK, from Bacillus subtilis (natto) No. 16.

We previously reported purification and characterization of a 90k serine protease with pI 3.9 from Bacillus subtilis (natto) No. 16 [Kato et al. 1992 Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 56:1166]. The enzyme showed different and unique substrate specificity towards the oxidized B-chain of insulin from those of well-known bacterial serine proteases from Bacillus subtilisins. The structural gene, hspK, for the 90k serine protease was cloned and sequenced. The cloned DNA fragment contained a single open reading frame of 4302 bp coding a protein of 1433 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of the 90k-protease indicated the presence of a typical signal sequence of the first 30 amino acids region and that there was a pro-sequence of 164 amino acid residues after the signal sequence. The mature region of the 90k-protease started from position 195 of amino acid residue, and the following peptide consisted of 1239 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 133k. It might be a precursor protein of the 90k-protease, and the C-terminal region of 43k might be degraded to a mature protein from the precursor protein. The catalytic triad was thought to consist of Asp33, His81, and Ser259 from comparison of the amino acid sequence of the 90k-protease with those of the other bacterial serine proteases. The high-molecular-weight serine protease, the 90k-protease, may be an ancient form of bacterial serine proteases.