Isolation and identification of actinomycetes for production of novel extracellular glutaminase free L-asparaginase.

Over the recent years glutaminase free L-asparaginase has gained more importance due to better therapeutic properties for treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Actinomycetes are known for L-asparaginase activity. In the current study, 80 actinomycetes were isolated from various soil habitats by serial dilution technique. Presence of L-asparaginase was investigated in a total of 240 actinomycetes by tubed agar method using modified M-9 medium. A total of 165 actinomycetes were found positive for L-asparaginase activity. Among these, 57 actinomycetes producing larger zones of L-asparagine hydrolysis were further screened for their capacity to produce glutaminase-free L-asparaginase. Four L-glutaminase-free actinomycetes were found to be potential L-asparaginase producers. These actinomycetes were identified as Streptomyces cyaneus (SAP 1287, CFS 1560), S. exfoliates (CFS 1557) and S. phaeochromogenes (GS 1573) on the basis of morphological and biochemical identification studies. Maximum L-asparaginase activity (19.2 Uml-1) was observed in culture filtrate of S. phaeochromogenes under submerged fermentation. Results indicate that S. phaeochromogenes could be a potential source of glutaminase free L-asparaginase for commercial purpose. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on production of glutaminase free L-asparaginase from S. cyaneus, S. exfoliatus and S. phaeochromogenes.

Production, purification and characterization of L-Glutaminase from Streptomyces sp. isolated from soil.

L-Glutaminase, an amidohydrolase enzyme has been a choice of interest in the treatment of lymphoblastic leukaemia. The present study reports production, purification and characterization of extracellular glutaminase enzyme from Actinomycetes. Screening was performed for twenty Actinomycetes isolates from soil; one isolate (Isolate 2) was finally selected based on the activity of glutaminase (32.5 U/ml).The isolate was identified as Streptomyces sp. Effect of physicochemical factors namely temperature, pH, NaCl concentration, and supplementary carbon & nitrogen sources on the production of L-glutaminase from the Streptomyces sp. was carried out. The enzyme production was found to be optimum with glucose as carbon source (33 U/ml), L-glutamine as nitrogen source (33.1 U/ml), at 7 pH (32.8 U/ml), temperature 30oC (32.4 U/ml) and for 0.1% NaCl concentration (32.5 U/ml). The L-glutaminase produced from Streptomyces sp. was purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation, dialysis method and ion exchange chromatography. After the purification of the enzyme by ion exchange chromatography, it has been purified 46-fold from cell-free extract and yield was 3.25%. Characterization of extracellular L-glutaminase showed that the enzyme shown optimal activity at temperature of 30°C, pH 7, at 2% NaCl and for 0.04M substrate and the Km value was calculated to be 2.8mM and Vmax was 7.57 U/ml. The molecular weight of enzyme as determined by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was found to be 50 kDa.

Kinetic properties of Streptomyces canarius L- Glutaminase and its anticancer efficiency

Abstract L-glutaminase was produced by Streptomyces canarius FR (KC460654) with an apparent molecular mass of 44 kDa. It has 17.9 purification fold with a final specific activity 132.2 U/mg proteins and 28% yield recovery. The purified L-glutaminase showed a maximal activity against L-glutamine when incubated at pH 8.0 at 40 °C for 30 min. It maintained its stability at wide range of pH from 5.0 11.0 and thermal stable up to 60 °C with Tm value 57.5 °C. It has high affinity and catalytic activity for L-glutamine (Km 0.129 mM, Vmax 2.02 U/mg/min), followed by L-asparagine and L-aspartic acid. In vivo, L-glutaminase showed no observed changes in liver; kidney functions; hematological parameters and slight effect on RBCs and level of platelets after 10 days of rabbit's injection. The anticancer activity of L-glutaminase was also tested against five types of human cancer cell lines using MTT assay in vitro. L-glutaminase has a significant efficiency against Hep-G2 cell (IC50, 6.8 μg/mL) and HeLa cells (IC50, 8.3 μg/mL), while the growth of MCF-7 cells was not affected. L-glutaminase has a moderate cytotoxic effect against HCT-116 cell (IC50, 64.7 μg/mL) and RAW 264.7 cell (IC50, 59.3 μg/mL).

Purification, Kinetic Properties and Antitumor Activity of L-Glutaminase from Penicillium brevicompactum NRC 829.

Aim: The aims of the present study were to purify and characterize L-glutaminase from Penicillium brevicompactum NRC 829; and to evaluate the antitumor activity of the purified enzyme against different tumor human cell lines. Study Design: Testing of antitumor activity of L-glutaminase, purified from a filamentous fungal strain, against four different tumor human cell lines. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Microbial Chemistry, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Division, National Research Centre (NRC), Cairo, Egypt, between January 2011 and February 2012. Methodology: P. brevicompactum NRC 829 was grown and maintained on modified Czapek Dox agar (MCD) medium. Cell-free extract was directly used as the source of crude enzyme. L-glutaminase was purified by heat treatment for 20 min at 50ºC, followed by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and G-200 columns. Results: An intracellular L-glutaminase from Penicillium brevicompactum NRC 829 was purified to homogeneity (162.75 fold) with an apparent molecular mass (Mr) of 71 kDa. The purified enzyme showed its maximal activity against L-glutamine when incubated at pH 8.5 at 50ºC for 30 min. The purified enzyme retained about 92 % of its initial activity after incubation at 70ºC for 30 min indicating the thermo-stability nature of this enzyme. The highest activity was reported towards its natural substrate, L-glutamine, with an apparent Km value of 1.66 mM. The purified enzyme inhibited the growth of human cell line hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep-G2), with IC50 value of 63.3μg/ml. Conclusion: L-glutaminase purified from Penicillium brevicompactum NRC 829 is a potential candidate in food and pharmaceutical industries.

An approach on microbial biosynthesis of L-glutaminase: a tumour inhibitor.

L-Glutaminase, an amidohydrolase enzyme has been a choice of interest in the treatment of lymphoblastic leukemia. This study investigates the production of extracellular L-glutaminase synthesis were carried out by using Aspergillus oryzae was evaluated under different fermentation parameters by employing submerged fermentation method. The L-glutaminase producers detected by the pink zone around the colony by simple plate assay method. Aspergillus oryzae S2 is the potential strain among the fungal isolates. The L-glutaminase synthesis were increased their yield after the optimization of fermentation parameters. The optimum pH 5.0, temperature 350C and inoculum size 1.0 ml and it showed 217.65 IU.

Process optimization of L-glutaminase production by Trichoderma koningii under solid state fermentation (SSF).

Solid state fermentation (SSF) was carried out for the production of Lglutaminase by the fungal strain Trichoderma koningii using sesamum oil cake as the solid substrate. L-glutaminase has received significant attention in recent years owing to its potential applications in medicine as an anticancer agent, as an efficient anti-retroviral agent and as a biosensor. In food industries it is used as a flavor and aroma enhancing agent. The overall maximum yield of L-glutaminase (19.41 U/gds) was achieved with the optimized process parameters of initial moisture content 65%, initial pH of the medium 7.0, supplemented with Dmaltose (1.0% w/v) and malt extract (1.0% w/v), inoculated with 2ml of 6 day old fungal culture and incubated at 33°C for 5 days. Both physico-chemical and nutritional parameters had played a significant role in the production of the enzyme, L-glutaminase. The enzyme production was found to be growth associated with the growth of the fungal culture.