Purification and Properties of an Extracellular Acid Phytase from Pseudomonas fragi Y9451

An extracellular acid phytase from Pseudomonas fragi Y9451 was purified to homogeneity from the culture supernatant by salting-out, DEAE-Sepharose column chromatography, CM-Sepharose column chromatography, and Sephacryl S-300 gel filtration. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 74 kDa on gel filtration and 54 kDa and 25 kDa on SDS-PAGE, suggesting that the native enzyme was a heterodimeric protein. The purified enzyme was most active at pH 4.5 and $70^{\circ}C$ and fairly stable from pH 4.0- 6.0. It was specific for phytate and exhibited a $K_{m}$ value of 27 mM (sodium phytate, pH 4.5, $50^{\circ}C$). The phytase activity was strongly inhibited (at maximum by 87%) by $Fe^{3+},\;Cu^{2+},\;Fe^{2+}$, and $Zn^{2+}$ at 5 mM concentration, and greatly inhibited by $Ca^{2+}$ at 10 mM concentration. However, EDTA notably stimulated the phytase activity at 10 mM concentration. With optimum pH and stability, Pseudomonas fragi phytase could be a potential candidate for animal feed applications.