• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.349-354
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• 2016

The archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus P1 carboxylesterase is a thermostable enzyme with a molecular mass of 33.5 kDa belonging to the mammalian hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) family. In our previous study, we purified the enzyme and suggested the expected amino acids related to its catalysis by chemical modification and a sequence homology search. For further validating these amino acids in this study, we modified them using site-directed mutagenesis and examined the activity of the mutant enzymes using spectrophotometric analysis and then estimated by homology modeling and fluorescence analysis. As a result, it was identified that Ser151, Asp244, and His274 consist of a catalytic triad, and Gly80, Gly81, and Ala152 compose an oxyanion hole of the enzyme. In addition, it was also determined that the cysteine residues are located near the active site or at the positions inducing any conformational changes of the enzyme by their replacement with serine residues.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.727-731
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• 2010

The gene APE0743 encoding the superoxide dismutase (ApSOD) of a hyperthermophilic archaeon Aeropyrum pernix K1 was cloned and overexpressed as a GST fusion protein at a high level in Escherichia coli. The expressed protein was simply purified by the process of glutathione affinity chromatography and thrombin treatment. The ApSOD was a homodimer of 25 kDa subunits and a cambialistic SOD, which was active with either Fe(II) or Mn(II) as a cofactor. The ApSOD was highly stable against high temperature. This thermostable ApSOD is expected to be applicable as a useful biocatalyst for medicine and bioindustrial processes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.676-682
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• 2005

To date, no 8-oxoguanine-specific endonuclease-coding gene has been identified in Thermotoga maritima of the order Thermotogales, although its entire genome has been deciphered. However, the hypothetical protein Tm1821 from T. maritima, has a helix-hairpin-helix motif that is considered to be important for DNA binding and catalytic activity. Here, Tm1821 was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography, protease digestion, and gel filtration. Tm1821 protein was found to efficiently cleave an oligonucleotide duplex containing 8-oxoguanine, but Tm1821 had little effect on other substrates containing modified bases. Moreover, Tm1821 strongly preferred DNA duplexes containing an 8-oxoguanine:C pair among oligonucleotide duplexes containing 8-oxoguanine paired with four different bases (A, C, G, or T). Furthermore, Tm1821 showed AP lyase activity and Schiff base formation with 8-oxoguanine in the presence of $NaBH_4$, which suggests that it is a bifunctional DNA glycosylase. Tm1821 protein shares unique conserved amino acids and substrate specificity with an 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase from the hyperthermophilic archaeon. Thus, the DNA recognition and catalytic mechanisms of Tm1821 protein are likely to be similar to archaeal repair protein, although T. maritima is an eubacterium.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.283-286
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• 2008

The methylenetetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase/cyclohydrolase (MTHFDC) from the thermoacidophilic archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum is a 30.6kDa molecular-mass enzyme that sequentially catalyzes the conversion of formyltetrahydrofollate to methylenetetrahydrofolate, with a preference for NADP as a cofactor, rather than NAD. In order to elucidate the functional and structural features of MTHFDC from archaeons at a molecular level, it was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and crystallized in the presence of its cofactor, NADP, at 295K using polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 as a precipitant. The crystal is a member of the monoclinic space group $P2_1$, with the following unit cell parameters: $a=66.333{\AA},\;b=52.868{\AA},\;c=86.099{\AA},\;and\;{\beta}=97.570^{\circ}$, and diffracts to a resolution of at least $2.40{\AA}$ at the synchrotron. Assuming a dimer in the crystallographic asymmetric unit, the calculated Matthews parameter $(V_M)\;was\;2.44{\AA}^3/Da$ and the solvent content was 49.7%.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.909-916
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• 2018

Previously, a cytosolic trehalase (TreH) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius was reported; however, the gene responsible for the trehalase activity was not identified. Two genes, saci_1816 and saci_1250, that encode the glycoside hydrolase family 15 type glucoamylase-like proteins in S. acidocaldarius were targeted and expressed in Escherichia coli, and their abilities to hydrolyze trehalose were examined. Recombinant Saci_1816 hydrolyzed trehalose exclusively without any help from a cofactor. The mass spectrometric analysis of partially purified native TreH also confirmed that Saci_1816 was involved in proteins exhibiting trehalase activity. Optimal trehalose hydrolysis activity of the recombinant Saci_1816 was observed at pH 4.0 and $60^{\circ}C$. The pH dependence of the recombinant enzyme was similar to that of the native enzyme, but its optimal temperature was $20-25^{\circ}C$ lower, and its thermostability was also slightly reduced. From the biochemical and structural results, Saci_1816 was identified as a trehalase responsible for trehalose degradation in S. acidocaldarius. Identification of the treH gene confirms that the degradation of trehalose in Sulfolobus species occurs via the TreH pathway.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.2984-2988
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• 2009

A gene (PH0311) encoding a hypothetical protein from the genome sequence data of the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii OT3 was cloned and over-expressed in Escherichia coli. The purified recombinant protein was found to possess FAD-dependent NADH oxidase activity, although it lacked sequence homology to any other known general NADH oxidase family. The product of the PH0311 gene was thus designated PhNOX (NADH oxidase from Pyrococcus horikoshii), with an estimated molecular weight of 84 kDa by gel filtration and 22 kDa by SDS-PAGE, indicating it to be a homotetramer of 22 kDa subunits. PhNOX catalyzed the oxidation of reduced ${\beta}$-NADH with subsequent formation of $H_2O_2$ in the presence of FAD as a cofactor, but not ${\alpha}$-NADH, ${\alpha}$-NADPH, or ${\beta}$-NADPH. PhNOX showed high affinity for ${\beta}$-NADH with a Km value of 3.70 ${\mu}$M and exhibited optimum activity at pH 8.0 and 95$^{\circ}C$ as it is highly stable against high temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2004

A thioredoxin from hyperthermophile, Methanococcus jannashii (MjTRX) was characterized by use of the differential scanning calorimetry to understand the mechanisms of thermodynamic stability. MjTRX has an unfolding transition temperature of 116.5$^{\circ}C$, although the maximum free energy of the unfolding (9.9 Kcal/mol) is similar to that of E. coli thioredoxin (ETRX, 9.0 Kcal/mol). However, the temperature of maximum stability is higher than ETRX by 20$^{\circ}C$, indicating that the unfolding transition temperature increased by shifting the temperature of maximum stability. MjTRX has lower enthalpy and entropy of the unfolding compared to ETRX maintaining a similar free energy of the unfolding. From the structure and the thermodynamic parameters of MjTRX, we showed that the unfolding transition temperature of MjTRX is increased due to the decreased entropy of the unfolding. Decreasing the unfolded state entropy and increasing the folded state entropy can decrease the entropy of the unfolding. In the case of MjTRX, the increased number of proline residues decreased the unfolded state entropy and the increased enthalpy in the folded state increased the folded state entropy.

• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.534-536
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• 2002

A halophilic archaeon, Halobacterium salinarum, exhibits phototactic behaviors, by which the organism is guided to red-orange light and evades shorter wavelengths of light. The phototaxis is mediated by two retinal proteins, sensory rhodopsin I and II (SRI and SRII), whose structures are analogous to the cognate protein bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven proton pump. SRI mediates both attractant and repellent swimming behaviors to orange light and near- UV light, respectively. The two different signaling through the single photoreceptor have been ascribed to the presence of two active structures of SRI (S$\_$373/ and P$\_$520), which are produced upon orange light illumination of SRI and upon subsequent near-UV illumination of S$\_$373/, respectively. In the present study, we have measured the difference FTIR spectra of S$\_$373/ and P$\_$520/ states. In P$\_$520/, the isomeric structure of the chromophore is assignable to all-trans, and the Schiff base of the chromophore is protonated with concomitant deprotonation of Asp76, a combination which allows for the formation of a salt bridge between them. It was suggested that the way of interaction between the Schiff base and the counterion, which is different among SRI$\_$587/, S$\_$373/ and P$\_$520/ and which has been shown to drive the conformational changes in the cognate protein, bacteriorhodopsin, is the key to controlling conformational changes for the attractant and the repellent signaling by SRI.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2005

The peptidyl transferase center (PTC) is located in a protein free environment, thus confirming that the ribosome is a ribozyme. This arched void has dimensions suitable for accommodating the 3'ends of the A-and the P-site tRNAs, and is situated within a universal sizable symmetry-related region that connects all ribosomal functional centers involved in amino-acid polymerization. The linkage between the elaborate PTC architecture and the A-site tRNA position revealed that the A-to P-site passage of the tRNA 3'end is performed by a rotatory motion, which leads to stereochemistry suitable for peptide bond formation and for substrate mediated catalysis, thus suggesting that the PTC evolved by genefusion. Adjacent to the PTC is the entrance of the protein exit tunnel, shown to play active roles in sequence-specific gating of nascent chains and in responding to cellular signals. This tunnel also provides a site that may be exploited for local co-translational folding and seems to assist in nascent chain trafficking into the hydrophobic space formed by the first bacterial chaperone, the trigger factor. Many antibiotics target ribosomes. Although the ribosome is highly conserved, subtle sequence and/or conformational variations enable drug selectivity, thus facilitating clinical usage. Comparisons of high-resolution structures of complexes of antibiotics bound to ribosomes from eubacteria resembling pathogens, to an archaeon that shares properties with eukaryotes and to its mutant that allows antibiotics binding, demonstrated the unambiguous difference between mere binding and therapeutical effectiveness. The observed variability in antibiotics inhibitory modes, accompanied by the elucidation of the structural basis to antibiotics mechanism justifies expectations for structural based improved properties of existing compounds as well as for the development of novel drugs.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.225-234
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• 2016

This project sought to conduct an economic feasibility study regarding the commercial production of bio-hydrogen by the marine hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 using carbon monoxide-containing industrial off-gas. We carried out the economic evaluation of the bio-hydrogen production process using the raw material of steel mill by-product gas. The process parameter was as follows: $H_2$ production rate was 5.6 L/L/h; the conversion of carbon monoxide was 60.7%. This project established an evaluation criterion for about 10,000 tonne/year. Inflation factors were considered as 3%. The operating costs were recalculated based on prices in 2014. The total investment required for development was covered 30% by capital and 70% by a loan. The operation cost for the 0.5-year test and integration, and the cost for the first three months in the 50% production period were considered as the working capital in the cost estimation. The costs required for the rental of office space, facilities, and other related costs from the construction through to full-scale production periods were considered as continuing expenses. Materials, energy, waste disposal and other charges were considered as the operating cost of the development system. Depreciation, tax, maintenance and repair, insurance, labor, interest rate charges, general and administrative costs, lubrication and miscellaneous expenses were also calculated. The hydrogen price was set at US$ 4.15/kg for the economic evaluation. As a result, the process was considered to be economical with the payback period of 6.3 years, NPV of 18 billion Won and IRR of 26.7%.