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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2000, p. 2484-2490, Vol. 66, No. 6
Graduate School of Agricultural
Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Suwon
441-744,1 Department of Food and
Nutrition, Seowon University, Cheongju 361-742,2
Department of Biological Science, MyongJi University,
Yongin 449-728,3 and Graduate School of
Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul
151-742,4 Korea
Received 22 December 1999/Accepted 20 March 2000
To test the effect of the physical proximity of two enzymes
catalyzing sequential reactions, a bifunctional fusion enzyme, TPSP,
was constructed by fusing the Escherichia coli genes for trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) synthetase (TPS) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP). TPSP catalyzes the sequential reaction in which T6P
is formed and then dephosphorylated, leading to the synthesis of
trehalose. The fused chimeric gene was overexpressed in E. coli and purified to near homogeneity; its molecular weight was 88,300, as expected. The Km values of the TPSP
fusion enzyme for the sequential overall reaction from UDP-glucose and
glucose 6-phosphate to trehalose were smaller than those of an
equimolar mixture of TPS and TPP (TPS/TPP). However, the
kcat values of TPSP were similar to those of
TPS/TPP, resulting in a 3.5- to 4.0-fold increase in the catalytic
efficiency (kcat/Km).
The Km and kcat values of TPSP and TPP for the phosphatase reaction from T6P to trehalose were
quite similar. This suggests that the increased catalytic efficiency
results from the proximity of TPS and TPP in the TPSP fusion enzyme.
The thermal stability of the TPSP fusion enzyme was quite similar to
that of the TPS/TPP mixture, suggesting that the structure of each
enzyme moiety in TPSP is unperturbed by intramolecular constraint.
These results clearly demonstrate that the bifunctional fusion enzyme
TPSP catalyzing sequential reactions has kinetic advantages over a
mixture of both enzymes (TPS and TPP). These results are also supported
by the in vivo accumulation of up to 0.48 mg of trehalose per g of
cells after isopropyl-
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Characterization of a Bifunctional Enzyme Fusion of
Trehalose-6-Phosphate Synthetase and Trehalose-6-Phosphate Phosphatase
of Escherichia coli
-D-thiogalactopyranoside treatment of cells harboring the construct encoding TPSP.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Graduate School
of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Suwon
441-744, Korea. Phone: 82-331-290-2407. Fax: 82-331-291-7011. E-mail: choiyngd{at}snu.ac.kr.
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