Direct cloning and transplanting of large DNA fragments from Escherichia coli chromosome.

We applied a resistance split-fusion strategy to increase the in vivo direct cloning efficiency mediated by Red recombination. The cat cassette was divided into two parts: cma (which has a homologous sequence with cmb) and cmb, each of which has no resistance separately unless the two parts are fused together. The cmb sequence was integrated into one flank of a target cloning region in the chromosome, and a linear vector containing the cma sequence was electroporated into the cells to directly capture the target region. Based on this strategy, we successfully cloned an approximately 48 kb DNA fragment from the E. coli DH1-Z chromosome with a positive frequency of approximately 80%. Combined with double-strand breakage-stimulated homologous recombination, we applied this strategy to successfully replace the corresponding region of the E. coli DH36 chromosome and knock out four non-essential genomic regions in one step. This strategy could provide a powerful tool for the heterologous expression of microbial natural product biosynthetic pathways for genome assembly and for the functional study of DNA sequences dozens of kilobases in length.

Cloning, expression and characterization of D-aminoacylase from Achromobacter xylosoxidans subsp. denitrificans ATCC 15173.

D-Aminoacylase catalyzes the conversion of N-acyl-D-amino acids to d-amino acids and fatty acids. The aim of this study was to identify the D-aminoacylase gene from Achromobacter xylosoxidans subsp. denitrificans ATCC 15173 and investigate the biochemical characterization of the enzyme. A previously uncharacterized D-aminoacylase gene (ADdan) from this organism was cloned and sequenced. The open reading frame (ORF) of ADdan was 1467 bp in size encoding a 488-amino acid polypeptide. ADdan, with a high amino acid similarity to N-acyl-D-aspartate amidohydrolase from Alcaligenes A6, showed relatively low sequence similarities to other characterized D-aminoacylases. The recombinant ADdan protein was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) using pET-28a with a T7 promoter. The enzyme was purified in a single chromatographic step using nickel affinity gel column. The molecular mass of the expressed protein, calculated by SDS-PAGE, was about 52 kDa. The purified ADdan showed optimal activity at pH 8.0 and 50°C, and was stable at pH 6.0-8.0 and up to 45°C. Its activity was inhibited by Cu(2+), Fe(2+), Ca(2+), Mn(2+), Ni(2+), Zn(2+) and Hg(2+), whereas Mg(2+) had no significant influence on this recombinant D-aminoacylase. This is the first report on the characterization of D-aminoacylase with activity towards both N-acyl derivatives of neutral D-amino acids and N-acyl-D-aspartate. The characteristics of ADdan could prove to be of interest in industrial production of D-amino acids.