L-Ribose production from L-arabinose by immobilized recombinant Escherichia coli co-expressing the L-arabinose isomerase and mannose-6-phosphate isomerase genes from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans.

L-Ribose is an important precursor for antiviral agents, and thus its high-level production is urgently demanded. For this aim, immobilized recombinant Escherichia coli cells expressing the L-arabinose isomerase and variant mannose-6-phosphate isomerase genes from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans were developed. The immobilized cells produced 99 g/l L-ribose from 300 g/l L-arabinose in 3 h at pH 7.5 and 60 °C in the presence of 1 mM Co(2+), with a conversion yield of 33 % (w/w) and a productivity of 33 g/l/h. The immobilized cells in the packed-bed bioreactor at a dilution rate of 0.2 h(-1) produced an average of 100 g/l L-ribose with a conversion yield of 33 % and a productivity of 5.0 g/l/h for the first 12 days, and the operational half-life in the bioreactor was 28 days. Our study is first verification for L-ribose production by long-term operation and feasible for cost-effective commercialization. The immobilized cells in the present study also showed the highest conversion yield among processes from L-arabinose as the substrate.

Acteoside improves survival in cecal ligation and puncture-induced septic mice via blocking of high mobility group box 1 release.

Acteoside, an active phenylethanoid glycoside, has been used traditionally as an anti-inflammatory agent. The molecular mechanism by which acteoside reduces inflammation was investigated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced Raw264.7 cells and in a mouse model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis. In vitro, acteoside inhibits high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) release and iNOS/NO production and induces heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression in a concentration-dependent manner, while HO-1 siRNA antagonizes the inhibition of HMGB1 and NO. The effect of acteoside is inhibited by the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitor SB203580 and Nfr2 siRNA, indicating that acteoside induces HO-1 via p38 MAPK and NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). In vivo, acteoside increases survival and decreases serum and lung HMGB1 levels in CLP-induced sepsis. Overall, these results that acteoside reduces HMGB1 release and may be beneficial for the treatment of sepsis.

Characterization of an apo-carotenoid 13,14-dioxygenase from Novosphingobium aromaticivorans that converts ß-apo-8'-carotenal to ß-apo-13-carotenone.

A putative carotenoid oxygenase from Novosphingobium aromaticivorans was purified with a specific activity of 0.8 U/mg by His-Trap affinity chromatography. The native enzyme was estimated to be a 52 kDa monomer. Enzyme activity for ß-apo-8'-carotenal was maximal at pH 8.0 and 45 °C, with a half life of 15.3 h, K(m) of 21 µM, and k(cat) of 25 l/min. The enzyme exhibited cleavage activity only for carotenoids containing one ß-ionone ring and its catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) followed the order ß-apo-8'-carotenal > ß-apo-4'-carotenal > γ-carotene. The enzyme converted these carotenoids to ß-apo-13-carotenones by cleaving their C(13)-C(14) double bonds. The oxygen atom of ß-apo-13-carotenone originated not from water but from molecular oxygen. Thus, the enzyme was an apo-carotenoid 13,14-dioxygenase.

Production of 10-hydroxystearic acid from oleic acid by whole cells of recombinant Escherichia coli containing oleate hydratase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.

A putative fatty acid hydratase from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant enzyme showed the highest hydration activity for oleic acid among the fatty acids tested, indicating that the enzyme is an oleate hydratase. The optimal conditions for the production of 10-hydroxystearic acid from oleic acid using whole cells of recombinant E. coli containing the oleate hydratase were pH 6.5, 35°C, 0.05% (w/v) Tween 40, 10 g l(-1) cells, and 50 g l(-1) oleic acid. Under these conditions, whole recombinant cells produced 49 g l(-1) 10-hydroxystearic acid for 4 h, with a conversion yield of 98% (w/w), a volumetric productivity of 12.3 g l(-1) h(-1), and a specific productivity of 1.23 g g-cells(-1) h(-1), which were 18%, 2.5-, and 2.5-fold higher than those of whole wild-type S. maltophilia cells, respectively. This is the first report of 10-hydroxystearic acid production using recombinant cells and the concentration and productivity are the highest reported thus far among cells.

Characterization of a mannose-6-phosphate isomerase from Thermus thermophilus and increased L-ribose production by its R142N mutant.

An uncharacterized gene from Thermus thermophilus, thought to encode a mannose-6-phosphate isomerase, was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The maximal activity of the recombinant enzyme for L-ribulose isomerization was observed at pH 7.0 and 75°C in the presence of 0.5 mM Cu(2+). Among all of the pentoses and hexoses evaluated, the enzyme exhibited the highest activity for the conversion of L-ribulose to L-ribose, a potential starting material for many L-nucleoside-based pharmaceutical compounds. The active-site residues, predicted according to a homology-based model, were separately replaced with Ala. The residue at position 142 was correlated with an increase in L-ribulose isomerization activity. The R142N mutant showed the highest activity among mutants modified with Ala, Glu, Tyr, Lys, Asn, or Gln. The specific activity and catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) for L-ribulose using the R142N mutant were 1.4- and 1.6-fold higher than those of the wild-type enzyme, respectively. The k(cat)/K(m) of the R142N mutant was 3.8-fold higher than that of Geobacillus thermodenitrificans mannose-6-phosphate isomerase, which exhibited the highest activity to date for the previously reported k(cat)/K(m). The R142N mutant enzyme produced 213 g/liter L-ribose from 300 g/liter L-ribulose for 2 h, with a volumetric productivity of 107 g liter(-1) h(-1), which was 1.5-fold higher than that of the wild-type enzyme.

Increased D-allose production by the R132E mutant of ribose-5-phosphate isomerase from Clostridium thermocellum.

Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase from Clostridium thermocellum converted D-psicose to D-allose, which may be useful as a pharmaceutical compound, with no by-product. The 12 active-site residues, which were obtained by molecular modeling on the basis of the solved three-dimensional structure of the enzyme, were substituted individually with Ala. Among the 12 Ala-substituted mutants, only the R132A mutant exhibited an increase in D-psicose isomerization activity. The R132E mutant showed the highest activity when the residue at position 132 was substituted with Ala, Gln, Ile, Lys, Glu, or Asp. The maximal activity of the wild-type and R132E mutant enzymes for D-psicose was observed at pH 7.5 and 80°C. The half-lives of the wild-type enzyme at 60°C, 65°C, 70°C, 75°C, and 80°C were 11, 7.0, 4.2, 1.5, and 0.6 h, respectively, whereas those of the R132E mutant enzymes were 13, 8.2, 5.1, 3.1, and 0.9 h, respectively. The specific activity and catalytic efficiency (k(cat)/K(m)) of the R132E mutant for D-psicose were 1.4- and 1.5-fold higher than those of the wild-type enzyme, respectively. When the same amount of enzyme was used, the conversion yield of D-psicose to D-allose was 32% for the R132E mutant enzyme and 25% for the wild-type enzyme after 80 min.