Cloning, Expression, and Characterization of a Glycoside Hydrolase Family 118 -Agarase from Agarivorans sp. JA-1

We report a glycoside hydrolase (GH)-118 ${\beta}$-agarase from a strain of Agarivorans, in which we previously reported recombinant expression and characterization of the GH-50 ${\beta}$-agarase. The GH comprised an open reading frame of 1,437 base pairs, which encoded a protein of 52,580 daltons consisting of 478 amino acid residues. Assessment of the entire sequence showed that the enzyme had 97% nucleotide and 99% amino acid sequence similarities to those of GH-118 ${\beta}$-agarase from Pseudoalteromonas sp. CY24, which belongs to a different order within the same class. The gene corresponding to a mature protein of 440 amino acids was inserted, recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli, and purified to homogeneity with affinity chromatography. It had maximal activity at $35^{\circ}C$ and pH 7.0 and had 208.1 units/mg in the presence of 300 mM NaCl and 1 mM $CaCl_2$. More than 80% activity was maintained after 2 h exposure to $35^{\circ}C$; however, < 40% activity remained at $45^{\circ}C$. The enzyme hydrolyzed agarose to yield neoagarooctaose as the main product. This enzyme could be useful for industrial production of functional neoagarooligosaccharides.