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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2001, p. 1102-1106, Vol. 67, No. 3
Department of Molecular Microbiology and
Biotechnology, The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel
Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel
Received 24 July 2000/Accepted 15 November 2000
The bioemulsifier of Acinetobacter radioresistens KA53,
referred to as alasan, is a high-molecular-weight complex of
polysaccharide and protein. The emulsifying activity of the purified
polysaccharide (apo-alasan) is very low. Three of the alasan proteins
were purified by preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis and had apparent molecular masses of 16, 31, and 45 kDa. Emulsification assays using the isolated alasan proteins
demonstrated that the active components of the alasan complex are the
proteins. The 45-kDa protein had the highest specific emulsifying
activity, 11% higher than the intact alasan complex. The 16- and
31-kDa proteins gave relatively low emulsifying activities, but they were significantly higher than that of apo-alasan. The addition of the
purified 16- and 31-kDa proteins to the 45-kDa protein resulted in a
1.8-fold increase in the specific emulsifying activity and increased
stability of the oil-in-water emulsion. Fast-performance liquid
chromatography analysis indicated that the 45-kDa protein forms a dimer
in nondenaturing conditions and interacts with the 16- and 31-kDa
proteins to form a high-molecular-mass complex. The 45-kDa protein and
the three-protein complex had substrate specificities for
emulsification and a range of pH activities similar to that of alasan.
The fact that the purified proteins are active emulsifiers should
simplify structure-function studies and advance our understanding of
their biological roles.
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.3.1102-1106.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Emulsifying Activities of Purified Alasan Proteins
from Acinetobacter radioresistens KA53
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, The George S. Wise Faculty of
Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel. Phone:
972-3-640-9838. Fax: 972-3-642-9377. E-mail:
eueqene{at}ccsg.tau.ac.il.
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