Properties of a Novel Glutamate Decarboxylase (GAD) from Levilactobacillus brevis B737 Isolated from Cabbage Kimchi

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a multi-functional compound with broad applications for food industry. GABA producing bacteria were isolated from cabbage kimchi. Among them, B737 was the best GABA producer when culture supernatants were analyzed by TLC. B737 was identified as Levilactobacillus brevis by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Its glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) gene was cloned by PCR and the nucleotide sequence determined. B737 GAD consisting of 485 amino acids is the largest in size among GADs reported from LAB so far. gadB from L. brevis B737 was overexpressed in Escherichia. coli BL21(DE3) using pET26b(+).pET26b(+). The recombinant GAD was purified and its size was 55 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Maximum GAD activity was observed at pH 5 and 40℃ and the activity was dependent on pyridoxal 5'-phosphate. K_m and V_max of recombinant GAD were 6.2 ± 0.06 mM and 0.34 ± 0.002 mM/min, respectively. L. brevis B737 can be used as a starter for fermented foods with high GABA contents.