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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2002, p. 2869-2876, Vol. 68, No. 6
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.6.2869-2876.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Cloning and Characterization of the Zymobacter palmae Pyruvate Decarboxylase Gene (pdc) and Comparison to Bacterial Homologues{dagger}

Krishnan Chandra Raj, Lee A. Talarico, Lonnie O. Ingram, and Julie A. Maupin-Furlow*

Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0700

Received 28 January 2002/ Accepted 1 March 2002

Pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) is the key enzyme in all homo-ethanol fermentations. Although widely distributed among plants, yeasts, and fungi, PDC is absent in animals and rare in bacteria (established for only three organisms). Genes encoding the three known bacterial pdc genes have been previously described and expressed as active recombinant proteins. The pdc gene from Zymomonas mobilis has been used to engineer ethanol-producing biocatalysts for use in industry. In this paper, we describe a new bacterial pdc gene from Zymobacter palmae. The pattern of codon usage for this gene appears quite similar to that for Escherichia coli genes. In E. coli recombinants, the Z. palmae PDC represented approximately 1/3 of the soluble protein. Biochemical and kinetic properties of the Z. palmae enzyme were compared to purified PDCs from three other bacteria. Of the four bacterial PDCs, the Z. palmae enzyme exhibited the highest specific activity (130 U mg of protein-1) and the lowest Km for pyruvate (0.24 mM). Differences in biochemical properties, thermal stability, and codon usage may offer unique advantages for the development of new biocatalysts for fuel ethanol production.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0700. Phone: (352) 392-4095. Fax: (352) 392-5922. E-mail: jmaupin{at}ufl.edu.

{dagger} Journal Series R-08718 of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2002, p. 2869-2876, Vol. 68, No. 6
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.6.2869-2876.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Yanase, H., Sato, D., Yamamoto, K., Matsuda, S., Yamamoto, S., Okamoto, K. (2007). Genetic Engineering of Zymobacter palmae for Production of Ethanol from Xylose. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 2592-2599 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Talarico, L. A., Gil, M. A., Yomano, L. P., Ingram, L. O., Maupin-Furlow, J. A. (2005). Construction and expression of an ethanol production operon in Gram-positive bacteria. Microbiology 151: 4023-4031 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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