Characterization of a Bifidobacterium longum BORI dipeptidase belonging to the U34 family.

A dipeptidase was purified from a cell extract of Bifidobacterium longum BORI by ammonium sulfate precipitation and chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and Q-Sepharose columns. The purified dipeptidase had a molecular mass of about 49 kDa and was optimally active at pH 8.0 and 50 degrees C. The enzyme was a strict dipeptidase, being capable of hydrolyzing a range of dipeptides but not tri- and tetrapeptides, p-nitroanilide derivatives of amino acids, or N- or C-terminus-blocked dipeptides. A search of the amino acid sequence of an internal tryptic fragment against protein sequences deduced from the total genome sequence of B. longum NCC2705 revealed that it was identical to an internal sequence of the dipeptidase gene (pepD), which comprised 1,602 nucleotides encoding 533 amino acids with a molecular mass of 60 kDa, and thereby differed considerably from the 49-kDa mass of the purified dipeptidase. To understand this discrepancy, pepD was cloned into an Escherichia coli expression vector (pBAD-TOPO derivative) to generate the recombinant plasmids pBAD-pepD and pBAD-pepD-His (note that His in the plasmid designation stands for a polyhistidine coding region). Both plasmids were successfully expressed in E. coli, and the recombinant protein PepD-His was purified using nickel-chelating affinity chromatography and reconfirmed by internal amino acid sequencing. The PepD sequence was highly homologous to those of the U34 family of peptidases, suggesting that the B. longum BORI dipeptidase is a type of cysteine-type N-terminal nucleophile hydrolase and has a beta-hairpin motif similar to that of penicillin V acylase, which is activated by autoproteolytic processing.

Purification and sequence identification of anserinase.

Anserinase (Xaa-methyl-His dipeptidase, EC 3.4.13.5) is a dipeptidase that mainly catalyzes the hydrolysis of Nalpha-acetylhistidine in the brain, retina and vitreous body of all poikilothermic vertebrates. The gene encoding anserinase has not been previously identified. We report the molecular identification of anserinase, purified from brain of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. The determination of the N-terminal sequence of the purified anserinase allowed the design of primers permitting the corresponding cDNA to be cloned by PCR. The anserinase cDNA has an ORF of 1485 nucleotides and encodes a signal peptide of 18 amino acids and a mature protein of 476 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 53.3 kDa. Sequence analysis showed that anserinase is a member of the M20A metallopeptidase subfamily in MEROPS peptidase database, to which 'serum' carnosinase (EC 3.4.13.20) and cytosolic nonspecific dipeptidase (EC 3.4.13.18, CNDP) belong. A cDNA encoding CNDP-like protein was also isolated from tilapia brain. Whereas anserinase mRNA was detected only in brain, retina, kidney and skeletal muscle, CNDP-like protein mRNA was detected in all tissues examined.

Identification of two additional members of the membrane-bound dipeptidase family.

We have cloned two mouse cDNAs encoding previously unidentified membrane-bound dipeptidases [membrane-bound dipeptidase-2 (MBD-2) and membrane-bound dipeptidase-3 (MBD-3)] from membrane-bound dipeptidase-1 (MBD-1) deficient mice (Habib, G.M., Shi, Z-Z., Cuevas, A.A., Guo, Q., Matzuk, M.M., and Lieberman, M.W. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 4859-4863). These enzymes are closely related to MBD-1 (EC 3.4.13.19), which is known to cleave leukotriene D4 (LTD4) and cystinyl-bis-glycine. MBD-2 cDNA is 56% identical to MBD-1 with a predicted amino acid identity of 33%. The MBD-3 and MBD-1 cDNAs share a 55% nucleotide identity and a 39% predicted amino acid sequence identity. All three genes are tightly linked on the same chromosome. Expression of MBD-2 and MBD-3 in Cos cells indicated that both are membrane-bound through a glycosylphosphatidyl-inositol linkage. MBD-2 cleaves leukotriene D4 (LTD4) but not cystinyl-bis-glycine, while MBD-3 cleaves cystinyl-bis-glycine but not LTD4. MBD-1 is expressed at highest levels in kidney, lung, and heart and is absent in spleen, while MBD-2 is expressed at highest levels in lung, heart, and testis and at somewhat lower levels in spleen. Of the tissues examined, MBD-3 expression was detected only in testis. Our identification of a second enzyme capable of cleaving LTD4 raises the possibility that clearance of LTD4 during asthma and in related inflammatory conditions may be mediated by more than one enzyme.