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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2001, p. 1102-1106, Vol. 67, No. 3
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

Amir Toren, Shiri Navon-Venezia, Eliora Z. Ron, and Eugene Rosenberg*

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.


* 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.


Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2001, p. 1102-1106, Vol. 67, No. 3
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.3.1102-1106.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Bach, H., Berdichevsky, Y., Gutnick, D. (2003). An Exocellular Protein from the Oil-Degrading Microbe Acinetobacter venetianus RAG-1 Enhances the Emulsifying Activity of the Polymeric Bioemulsifier Emulsan. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 2608-2615 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Toren, A., Orr, E., Paitan, Y., Ron, E. Z., Rosenberg, E. (2002). The Active Component of the Bioemulsifier Alasan from Acinetobacter radioresistens KA53 Is an OmpA-Like Protein. J. Bacteriol. 184: 165-170 [Abstract] [Full Text]