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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2009, p. 4657-4659, Vol. 75, No. 13
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02597-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of a Novel Alkaliphilic Esterase Active at Low Temperatures by Screening a Metagenomic Library from Antarctic Desert Soil{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Caroline Heath,1 Xiao Ping Hu,1 S. Craig Cary,2 and Donald Cowan1*

Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa,1 University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand2

Received 13 November 2008/ Accepted 3 April 2009

A novel esterase was identified through functional screening of a metagenomic library in Escherichia coli obtained from Antarctic desert soil. The 297-amino-acid sequence had only low (<29%) similarity to a putative esterase from Burkholderia xenovorans. The enzyme was active over a temperature range of 7 to 54°C and at alkaline pH levels and is a potential candidate for industrial application.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, Department of Biotechnology, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa. Phone: 27 21 959 2083. Fax: 27 21 959 3505. E-mail: dcowan{at}uwc.ac.za

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 1 May 2009.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.


Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2009, p. 4657-4659, Vol. 75, No. 13
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02597-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.