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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 1999, p. 5515-5521, Vol. 65, No. 12
Department of Chemistry, University of
California, Davis, California 95616
Received 13 May 1999/Accepted 5 September 1999
The cDNA that encodes an isoform of laccase from Trametes
versicolor (LCCI), as well as a truncated version (LCCIa), was
subcloned and expressed by using the yeast Pichia pastoris
as the heterologous host. The amino acid sequence of LCCIa is identical
to that of LCCI except that the final 11 amino acids at the C terminus
of LCCI are replaced with a single cysteine residue. This modification was introduced for the purpose of improving the kinetics of electron transfer between an electrode and the copper-containing active site of
laccase. The two laccases (LCCI and LCCIa) are compared in terms of
their relative activity with two substrates that have different redox
potentials. Results from electrochemical studies on solutions
containing LCCI and LCCIa indicate that the redox potential of the
active site of LCCIa is shifted to more negative values (411 mV versus
normal hydrogen electrode voltage) than that found in other fungal
laccases. In addition, replacing the 11 codons at the C terminus of the
laccase gene with a single cysteine codon (i.e., LCCI
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Electrochemical Studies of a Truncated Laccase
Produced in Pichia pastoris
LCCIa)
influences the rate of heterogeneous electron transfer between an
electrode and the copper-containing active site
(khet for LCCIa = 1.3 × 10
4 cm s
1). These results demonstrate for
the first time that the rate of electron transfer between an
oxidoreductase and an electrode can be enhanced by changes to the
primary structure of a protein via site-directed mutagenesis.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Phone: (530)
754-8040. Fax: (530) 752-8995. E-mail:
palmore{at}chem.ucdavis.edu.
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