Construction of bifunctional xylanase-cellulase fusion protein from Bacillus licheniformis NBL420 and its expression in E. coli

Bacillus licheniformis NBL420 유래의 Xylanase-Cellulase 활성을 갖는 융합단백질 제작과 대장균에서의 발현

The bifunctional Xylanase-Cellulase hybrid protein was constructed by gene fusion. Two genes corresponding to endoxylanase gene (xylS) and endocellulase gene (celA) were amplified by PCR from Bacillus licleniformis NBL420. It was then linked through splicing by overlap extension (SOE) by PCR method. The two resulting fused hybrids, xyl/cel and cel/xyl, which differ by its orientation, were confirmed by its nucleotide sequencings. One of two fusion genes, xyl/cel was successfully expressed into pET22b(+) vector (pxyl/cel) with bifunctional xylanase-cellulase activity. On the contrary, the other cel/xyl fusion protein showed only cellulase activity with much decreased xylanase activity. Enzymatic properties of Xyl/Cel fusion protein were investigated regarding optimum pH, optimum temp, thermostability, and pH stability. It was revealed that Xyl/Cel fusion protein retained the bifunctional xylanase-cellulase activities eventhough two enzymes were connected with each other directly. These informations could be useful for construction of other hybrid proteins as well as increased range of substrate utilization.