Cloning and Characterization of a Bile Salt Hydrolase from Enterococcus faecalis Strain Isolated from Healthy Elderly Volunteers

사람 분변에서 분리한 Enterococcusfaecalis가 생성하는 BileSaltHydrolase의 특징

Bile salt hydrolase (BSH, EC 3.5.1.24) activity, which cleaves amide bond between carboxyl group (bile acid) and amino group (glycine or taurine), is commonly detected in gut-associated species of human and animal. During the screening of BSH active strains from the fecal samples of elderly human volunteers, strain CU30-2 was isolated on the basis of the highly active BSH producing activity. A bsh gene of the isolate was cloned into the pET22b expression vector and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) Gold by induction with 1mM IPTG. The overexpressed BSH enzyme with 6x His-tag was purified with apparent homogeneity using a $Ni^+$-NTA agarose column and characterized. The BSH enzyme of E. faecalis CU30-2 exhibited approximately 50 times higher activity against glycol-conjugated bile salts than tauro-conjugated bile salts having the highest activity against glycocholic acid. Considering the prevalence of E. faecalis strains in the human GI tract and glycol-conjugates dominated bile acid composition of human bile, further study is needed to investigate the impact of the BSH activity exerted by E. faecalis strains to the host as well as to the BSH producing strains.

담즙산 분해효소(Bile salt hydrolase, EC 3.5.1.24) 활성은 담즙산의 카르복실기와 결합되어 있는 아미노기(glycine or taurine)와의 amide 결합을 끊는 작용을 하며, 이 효소 활성은 사람이나 동물의 장내 미생물들에서 널리 분포하고 있다. 노인 분변으로부터 분리한 여러 균주의 Enterococcus faecalis중에서 BSH activity가 가장 높은 CU30-2를 선발하였다. BSH 유전자를 pET22b expression vector에 클로닝하여 Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) Gold를 이용하여 단백질을 발현하였다. 6x His-tag이 있는 BSH 효소를 $Ni^+$-NTA agarose column을 이용하여 분리 정제하였고, 6가지의 다른 담즙산염을 이용하여 기질 특이성을 비교하였다. E. faecalis CU30-2의 BSH 효소는 glycine이 결합된 담즙산염에 대한 효소활성이 taurine이 결합된 것에 대한 활성보다 약 50배 정도 높게 나타났다. 이 효소의 최적 pH와 온도는 각각 7.0과 40$^{\circ}C$로 확인되었다.