• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.607-613
• /
• 2012

Improvement of endoglucanase activity was accomplished by utilizing error-prone rolling circle amplification, supplemented with 1.7 mM $MnCl_2$. This procedure generated random mutations in the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens endoglucanase gene with a frequency of 10 mutations per kilobase. Six mutated endoglucanase genes, recovered from six colonies, possessed endoglucanase activity between 2.50- and 3.12-folds higher than wild type. We sequenced these mutants, and the different mutated sites of nucleotides were identified. The mutated endoglucanase sequences had five mutated amino acids: A15T, P24A, P26Q, G27A, and E289V. Among these five substitutions, E289V was determined to be responsible for the improved enzyme activity. This observation was confirmed with site-directed mutagenesis; the introduction of only one mutation (E289V) in the wild-type endoglucanase gene resulted in a 7.93-fold (5.55 U/mg protein) increase in its enzymatic activity compared with that (0.7 U/mg protein) of wild type.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.18-21
• /
• 1995

Endoglucanase gene of Pseudomonas sp. LBC505 was previously cloned in pUCl9 to yield plasmid pLC1. overproduction of endoglucanase was attempted by following ways. First, the endoglucanase gene of Pseudomonas sp. LBC505 cloned in pUCl9(pLC1) was tandemly inserted, step by step, into a expression vector pKK223-3 in a directly repeated form to enhance productivity of endoglucanase. Escherichia coli containing pKCC30 among the resulting plasm ids showed the higher yield of the endoglucanase. Ecoli harboring pKCC30 which had three inserted endoglucanase genes expressed about 12.3 times as much CMCase activity as Ecoli harboring pLCl. Second, the endoglucanase gene was subcloned into Bacillus subtilis expression vector pgnt41 for both overproduction and extracellular secretion of the endoglucanase. A resulting plasmid pgntc15 in Bacillus subtilis expressed 4.3-fold higher levels of CMCase activity than that of E.coli harboring pLCl and the endoglucanase produced was entirely secreted into the culture medium.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.25 no.11
• /
• pp.1856-1862
• /
• 2015

In order to improve the stability of endoglucanase under thermal and acidic conditions, the endoglucanase gene was fused to the N-terminus of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae pir gene, encoding the cell wall protein PIR. The fusion gene was transformed into Pichia pastoris GS115 for expression. A resulting strain with high expression and high activity was identified by examining resistance to Geneticin 418, Congo red staining, and quantitative analysis of enzyme activity. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the endoglucanase was successfully displayed on the yeast cell surface. The displayed endoglucanase (DEG) showed maximum activity towards sodium carboxyl methyl cellulose at approximately 275 IU/g cell dry weight. DEG exhibited greater than 60% residual activity in the pH range 2.5-8.5, higher than free endoglucanase (FEG), which had 40% residual activity at the same pH range. The highest tolerated temperature for DEG was 70℃, much higher than that of FEG, which was approximately 50℃. Moreover, DEG showed 91.1% activity at 65℃ for 120 min, while FEG only kept 77.8% residual activity over the same period. The half-life of DEG was 270 min at 65℃, compared with only 150 min for FEG. DEG could be used repeatedly at least three times. These results suggest that the DEG has broad applications as a yeast whole-cell biocatalyst, due to its novel properties of high catalytic efficiency, acid-thermal stabilities, and reusability.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.145-152
• /
• 2013

The culture conditions to maximize the production of endoglucanase (EC 3.2.1.4) from the brown rot fungus Fomitopsis pinicola MKACC 54347 mycelia were investigated. Among the tested media for endoglucanase production, Mandel's mineral salts medium (MSM; 1% cellulose, 0.1% peptone, 0.14% $(NH_4)_2SO_4$, 0.03% urea, 0.2% $KH_2PO_4$, 0.03% $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.03% $CaCl_2$, and 0.1% trace metal solution (19.8 mM $FeSO_4$, 13.0 mM $MnSO_4$, 12.2 mM $ZnSO_4$, and 15.4 mM $CoCl_2$)) produced the highest activity of the enzyme. To optimize the medium composition for enzyme activity, the effects of various carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and inorganic sources were investigated in MSM. Maximal enzyme production was accomplished using a medium containing 2% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), 2% yeast extract, 0.2% $KH_2PO_4$, 0.03% $MnSO_4$, and 0.3% trace metal solution. Different physiological conditions, like incubation period and temperature, were also examined to assess their influence on enzyme production. Enzyme production from F. pinicola reached its highest level after cultivation for 8 days at $25^{\circ}C$. Nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), followed by the endoglucanase activity staining using CMC as the substrate, was performed to identify the endoglucanase under the culture conditions studied. Zymogram analysis of the culture supernatant revealed an endoglucanase band with a molecular mass of 52 kDa. The optimum pH and temperature for enzyme activity were $55^{\circ}C$ and pH 5.0, respectively.

• Journal of Plant Biology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.275-283
• /
• 1989

$\beta$-1, 4-endoglucanase (EC 3, 2, 1, 4) was isolated and purified from Nicotiana tabaccum L. Var. Virginia 115 suspensin cultured cells. The molecular weight as estimated by Sephadex G-100 was about 14, 000. The optimum pH for activity was 5.4. The Km value for carboxymethyl cellulose was 0.18 mg/unit and the enzyme was quite resistant to heating. Polyamine did not affect the activity of $\beta$-1, 4-endoglucanase in vitro but the activity increased drastically when polyamines were added in the suspension culture medium. It is suggested that increase in $\beta$-1, 4-endoglucenase activity due to polyamine might be related to growth of the plant.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.373-382
• /
• 1994

A bacterial strain No. 40, which produced extracellular endoglucanase, was isolated from the rumen of Korean native goals and identified to be a genus of Actinomyces sp. The optimum conditions for endoglucanase production in PY-CMC medium were initial pH of 7.0 and 4 days of cultivation at $39^{\circ}C$. When localization of endoglucanase activity of Actinomyces sp. was determined, 68% of the enzyme activity was found in the extracellular fraction, 11% of the activity was detected in the periplasmic space and the remaining activity was in the intracellular and cell-bound fractions. The maximal endoglucanase activity was observed at pH 5.0 and it was most s table at pH 5.0. The optimum temperature of this enzyme activity was $55^{\circ}C$, but enzyme activity was gradually lost at temperature above $60^{\circ}C$. The crude enzyme was activated by addition of 10 mM cysteine and 10 mM DTT. But it was inhibited by addition of 10 mM $Cu^{{+}{+}}$ and $Fe^{{+}{+}}$. This crude enzyme could digest carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), and degrade xylan, avicel, pNPG, and pNPC to a less extent.

• Journal of Plant Biology
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.239-247
• /
• 1988

Spermidine, spermine and IAA promoted an increase in $\beta$-1, 4-endoglucanase activity in hypocotyls of Glycine max. The optimal concentration for the increase of the enzyme activity was 10-6 M for spermidine, 10-8 M for spermine and 10-6 M for IAA. However, IAA had innocuous effect on arginine decarboxylase and ornithine decarboxylase activites, and the content of polyamine. Such cumulative results suggest that the increase in $\beta$-1, 4-endoglucanase activity by IAA is not attributed by the effect on the biosynthesis of polyamine by IAA but spermidine, spermine and IAA induce cell wall loosening and therefore extension growth of cells.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.299-304
• /
• 2008

A ${\beta}$-1,4-endoglucanase gene from Bacillus subtilis H12 was cloned into Escherichia coli JM109 (pBC8) and sequenced. The endoglucanase gene with an insert DNA of 2.5 kb possessed an open reading frame of 1,500 bp encoding a mature protein of 499 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 55 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence showed similarity to those of the known neutral cellulase genes of B. subtilis PAP115 (99.2%) and BSE616 (97.8%), as well as the alkaline gene of Bacillus sp. N4 (55.1%). The endoglucanase activity expressed by E. coli (pBC8) was localized in the periplasmic fraction (80%) and the cytoplasmic fraction (20%). An endoglucanase was purified from the periplasmic fraction by performing gel filtration and anion exchange chromatography. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme was estimated to be 31 kDa by SDS-PAGE, and the maximum activity occurred at pH 7 and $40^{\circ}C$. The enzyme easily hydrolyzed soluble substrates such as carboxymethyl cellulose and barely ${\beta}$-glucan, whereas the sigmacell and xylan, the known insoluble substrates, were not entirely hydrolyzed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.17 no.8
• /
• pp.1249-1253
• /
• 2007

A hyperthermostable endoglucanase from Pyrococcus horikoshii with the capability of hydrolyzing crystalline cellulose was analyzed. A protein engineering study was carried out to obtain a reduced-size mutant. Five amino acid residues at both the N- and C-terminus were found to be removable without any loss of activity or thermal stability. Site-directed mutagenesis was also performed on R102, N200, E201, H297, Y299, E342, and W377, residues possibly involved in the active center or in the recognition and binding of a cellulose substrate. The activity of the resulting mutants was considerably decreased, confirming that the mutated residues were all important for activity. A reduced-size enzyme, as active as the wild-type endoglucanase, was successfully obtained, plus the residues critical for its activity and specificity were confirmed. Consequently, an engineered enzyme with a reduced size was obtained, and the amino acids essential for activity were confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis and comparison with a known three-dimensional structure.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.404-409
• /
• 2008

The brown-rot basidiomycete Fomitopsis palustris is known to degrade crystalline cellulose (Avicel) and produce three major cellulases, exoglucanases, endoglucanases, and ${\beta}$-glucosidases. A gene encoding endoglucanase, designated as cel12, was cloned from total RNA prepared from F. palustris grown at the expense of Avicel. The gene encoding Cel12 has an open reading frame of 732 bp, encoding a putative protein of 244 amino acid residues with a putative signal peptide residing at the first 18 amino acid residues of the N-terminus of the protein. Sequence analysis of Cel12 identified three consensus regions, which are highly conserved among fungal cellulases belonging to GH family 12. However, a cellulose-binding domain was not found in Cel12, like other GH family 12 fungal cellulases. Northern blot analysis showed a dramatic increase of cel12 mRNA levels in F. palustris cells cultivated on Avicel from the early to late stages of growth and the maintenance of a high level of expression in the late stage, suggesting that Cel12 takes a significant part in endoglucanase activity throughout the growth of F. palustris. Adventitious expression of cel12 in the yeast Pichia pastoris successfully produced the recombinant protein that exhibited endoglucanase activity with carboxymethyl cellulose, but not with crystalline cellulose, suggesting that the enzyme is not a processive endoglucanase unlike two other endoglucanases previously identified in F. palustris.