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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2007, p. 7099-7102, Vol. 73, No. 21
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.00777-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
6-Aminohexanoate Oligomer Hydrolases from the Alkalophilic Bacteria Agromyces sp. Strain KY5R and Kocuria sp. Strain KY2
Kengo Yasuhira,
Yasuhito Tanaka,
Hiroshi Shibata,
Yasuyuki Kawashima,
Akira Ohara,
Dai-ichiro Kato,
Masahiro Takeo, and
Seiji Negoro*
Department of Materials Science and Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Hyogo, Himeji, Hyogo 671-2280, Japan
Received 7 April 2007/
Accepted 20 August 2007

ABSTRACT
Alkalophilic, nylon oligomer-degrading strains,
Agromyces sp.
and
Kocuria sp., were isolated from the wastewater of a nylon-6
factory and from activated sludge from a sewage disposal plant.
The 6-aminohexanoate oligomer hydrolases (NylC) from the alkalophilic
strains had 95.8 to 98.6% similarity to the enzyme in neutrophilic
Arthrobacter sp. but had superior thermostability, activity
under alkaline conditions, and affinity for nylon-related substrates,
which would be advantageous for biotechnological applications.

INTRODUCTION
The biodegradation of unnatural synthetic compounds which have
been released into the natural environment with the development
of the chemical industry provides a suitable system for investigating
how microorganisms evolve the enzymes essential for the degradation
of such xenobiotic compounds. We have studied the degradation
of by-products of the manufacture of nylon-6, namely, 6-aminohexanoate
(Ahx) oligomers (nylon oligomers), by
Arthrobacter sp. strain
KI72 (formerly called a
Flavobacterium sp. [see Addendum]) as
a model system (
9,
10). We found that three enzymes, the Ahx
cyclic-dimer hydrolase (NylA) (
6), the Ahx dimer hydrolase (NylB)
(
7,
12,
13), and the Ahx endo-type-oligomer hydrolase (NylC)
(
4,
11), are responsible for the degradation of the nylon oligomers
(Fig.
1).
Nylon oligomers are discharged from nylon factories as an alkaline
solution. However, the optimum pH for the growth of strain KI72
is approximately 7, and thus far, no alkalophilic, nylon oligomer-degrading
strains have been isolated. Therefore, if such microorganisms
could be isolated, they would be useful for the direct treatment
of wastes from nylon-6 factories. In addition, comparative analyses
for the responsible enzymes are expected to provide information
on the evolutionary and functional divergence of these enzymes.
In this paper, we report the isolation of alkalophilic, nylon
oligomer-degrading bacteria, their genetic cloning, and the
characterization of their nylon oligomer-degrading enzymes.

Isolation of alkalophilic nylon oligomer-degrading bacteria.
The nylon oligomer mixture (NOM) (Toyobo Co., Tsuruga, Japan)
used is a mixture of Ahx cyclic and linear oligomers. To obtain
the cyclic-oligomer-enriched fraction used for bacterial screening,
the NOM was extensively washed with hot water on filter paper
to remove water-soluble linear oligomers. After being dried,
washed NOM (NOM-W) was obtained. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC)
analysis revealed that no free amino groups were detected by
ninhydrin in NOM-W, which indicates the absence of the linear
oligomer, while several spots appeared in the original NOM (Fig.
2C).
Microorganisms included in activated sludge from a sewage disposal
plant (sample 1) and in wastewater from a nylon-6 factory (sample
2) were enriched in NOM10 medium (0.4% NOM-W, 0.2% Na
3PO
4·12H
2O,
0.1% K
2HPO
4, 0.26% Na
2CO
3, 0.2% NaHCO
3, 0.02% MgSO
4·7H
2O,
0.5% NaCl, 0.01% yeast extract, pH 10). The cultures were diluted
with sterilized water and plated on LB-NOM10 plates (LB plates
containing 20 g/liter NOM-W, 100 mM carbonate buffer, pH 10).
Nylon oligomer-degrading microorganisms were selected as colonies
that form clear zones through the hydrolysis of insoluble NOM-W.
After incubation at 30°C for 5 to 7 days, two strains (KY1
and KY2) and five strains (KY31, KY32, KY4, KY5R, and KY5S)
were isolated from samples 1 and 2, respectively.

Enzymes responsible for the degradation of nylon oligomers in alkalophilic strains.
To examine the structural similarity of the nylon oligomer-degrading
enzymes among the isolated strains, cell extracts from each
strain were analyzed by immunoblot analysis using antisera against
NylA encoded on plasmid pOAD2 in
Arthrobacter sp. strain KI72
(NylA
p2) and NylB encoded on pOAD2 (NylB
p2). Protein bands with
similar electrophoretic mobilities were detected with the anti-NylB
p2 serum for all strains, suggesting that the NylB proteins in
the alkalophilic strains were immunologically similar to NylB
p2.
Similarly, NylA proteins were detected with the anti-NylA
p2 serum for all strains, except for KY5R and KY5S (data not shown).
NOM-W is a mixture of Ahx cyclic oligomers with various degrees of polymerization and is not appropriate for enzymatic analysis. To prepare an Ahx cyclic oligomer (for the NylC assay; degree of polymerization, >3), NOM-W (20 g/liter) dissolved in buffer A (20 mM phosphate buffer-10% glycerol, pH 7.3; 100 ml) was incubated with purified NylAp2 enzyme (15 U/ml) at 30°C for 24 h to degrade the coexisting cyclic dimer, followed by extensive washing on filter paper with hot water. To confirm the absence of the cyclic dimer in this preparation, a portion was digested with either purified NylC from Arthrobacter plasmid pOAD2 (NylCp2) (15 µmol/min [U/ml]) or NylAp2 (15 U/ml), followed by TLC analysis. The NylCp2-treated sample gave spots for Ahx and Ahx linear oligomers (Fig. 2C, slot 10), but no ninhydrin-reactive spots were detected even after the NylAp2 treatment (Fig. 2C, slot 9). To obtain the Ahx cyclic dimer (for the NylA assay), NOM-W was incubated with NylCp2 (15 U/ml), followed by crystallization from hot water. To confirm the absence of the cyclic oligomer in this sample, a portion was treated with either NylAp2 or NylCp2. The NylAp2 digestion gave the Ahx linear dimer (Fig. 2C, slot 5), but NylCp2 digestion gave no ninhydrin-positive spots (Fig. 2C, slot 6). The Ahx linear dimer (for the NylB assay) was chemically synthesized (7, 10).
After reaction of the cell extracts with the Ahx cyclic dimer (for the NylA assay) or Ahx linear dimer (for the NylB assay) for 3 h, reaction products were analyzed by TLC (12). The qualitative assay revealed the presence of NylA and NylB activities in all strains except KY5R and KY5S, which did not exhibit NylA activity. Moreover, no significant differences were observed in the activities at different pHs and temperatures (30°C/pH 10 and 60°C/pH 7.3) among the isolated strains and the neutrophilic strain KI72 (data not shown). When the Ahx cyclic oligomers (degree of polymerization, >3) were used as substrates (for the NylC assay), all strains tested produced Ahx and the Ahx linear dimer under the reaction conditions at 30°C/pH 7.3, suggesting that the cyclic oligomers are degraded to the linear oligomers, followed by conversion to Ahx (Fig. 2A). However, cell extracts from strains KY5R, KY5S, and KY2 produced reaction products even at 60°C and pH 7.3, while the cell extracts from KI72 and the other four strains produced no or smaller amounts of reaction products (Fig. 2B). These results suggest that NylC in KY5R, KY5S, and KY2 exhibited higher thermostability than NylC in the other strains.

Taxonomical study.
We amplified the DNA regions containing the 16S rRNA gene with
primers comprised of conserved sequences, cloned the amplified
the fragments into
Escherichia coli, and identified the nucleotide
sequences. Strains KY5R and KY5S differed in their colony morphologies,
but the 16S rRNA sequences were identical. A homology search
against the DNA database using the BLAST program (
http://blast.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/top-j.html)
extracted 100 sequences; the 13 sequences that had the highest
scores (93.9 to 98.4%) were those of 16S rRNAs of
Agromyces strains. Moreover, TLC analysis of the hydrolysate of peptidoglycan
of the KY5R and KY5S strains revealed the presence 2,4-diaminobutyric
acid, which is a typical characteristic of the genus
Agromyces (
18). On the basis of these results, we concluded that strains
KY5R and KY5S were members of
Agromyces sp. In addition, strain
KY2 was identified as a
Kocuria sp. based upon the high similarity
(98.9 to 99.1%) to the other nine
Kocuria strains (
17). Since
NylC in strains KY5R, KY5S, and KY2 possessed nylon oligomer-hydrolytic
activities even at high temperatures and since the first two
strains are phylogenetically identical, we focused further study
on NylC from strains KY5R and KY2.

Cloning and sequencing of the nylC genes.
In
Arthrobacter sp. strain KI72, the
nylA, nylB, and
nylC genes
are located on plasmid pOAD2 (
5,
14,
15), while in
Agromyces sp. strain KY5R and
Kocuria sp. strain KY2, extrachromosomal
DNA has not been detected by the conventional alkaline-extraction
method (
16). The 2.1-kb BglII fragment and 2.2-kb SacI fragment,
which hybridized to the
nylCp2 probe, were cloned into plasmid
pHSG299 (
19) from the chromosomes of KY5R and KY2, respectively.
From sequencing analyses, we found that the entire
nylC gene
was included in each cloned fragment. The
nylC genes from
Agromyces (
nylCA) and
Kocuria (
nylCK) encoded polypeptides of 355 amino
acid residues, which agrees with the size of NylC
p2. The three
nylC genes had common initiation (ATG) and termination (TAG)
codons and identical Shine-Dalgarno sequences (GGAGG). However,
the NylC
A and NylC
K sequences had 5 and 15 amino acid alterations
in their sequences compared to NylC
p2, respectively (Fig.
3).
To examine the characteristics of the three NylC proteins, the
enzymes were purified from the cell extracts of
E. coli JM109
(harboring a hybrid plasmid that highly expresses NylC) by ammonium
sulfate fractionation (20%- to 35%-saturated fraction) and Hi-TrapQ-Sepharose
column chromatography (0.15 to 0.25 M NaCl gradient). The purified
NylC gave a single band on nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis (PAGE), indicating that the enzyme was purified
to homogeneity. However, sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE analysis
of the enzymes gave two bands (27 kDa [

-subunit] and 9 kDa [ß-subunit]).
To identify the processing sites in
nylCA and
nylCK, we excised
the protein band corresponding to the ß-subunit from
the PAGE gel. The 10 N-terminal residues obtained by protein
sequencing were identical to those deduced from the nucleotide
sequence starting from Thr267, demonstrating that NylC
A and
NylC
K were subjected to specific cleavage at Asn266/Thr267,
which has previously been identified as a cleavage site in NylC
p2 (
4). The observed processing is a specific feature of the N-terminal
nucleophile (Ntn) hydrolase family, in which cleavage is performed
auto-catalytically to generate two subunits (
1,
2,
3,
8).

Characterization of NylC.
To examine their activities toward nylon-related substrates,
the purified NylC
A, NylC
K, and NylC
p2 enzymes (0.1 mg/ml each)
were incubated with the Ahx cyclic dimer, the Ahx linear dimer,
or Ahx cyclic oligomers (degree of polymerization, >3) at
30°C for 4 h and reaction products were analyzed by TLC
(Fig.
2D). The three enzymes produced Ahx from Ahx cyclic oligomers
(the NylC-specific substrate) (Fig.
2D, slots 7 to 9) but gave
no detectable amounts of reaction products from either the Ahx
cyclic dimer (the NylA-specific substrate) (Fig.
2D, slots 1
to 3) or the Ahx linear dimer (the NylB-specific substrate)
(Fig.
2D, slots 4 to 6). However, it should be noted that the
NylC enzymes have trace activities for the Ahx linear dimer
(ca. 1% of the specific activity for Ahx cyclic oligomers),
since reaction mixtures using 100 times more NylC samples (10
mg/ml) gave similar ratios of conversion of the Ahx linear dimer
to Ahx obtained with 0.1-mg/ml NylB samples. These results indicate
that NylC
A and NylC
K are basically similar to NylC
p2 in specificity
for nylon-related compounds. However, as described below, the
NylC
A and NylC
K enzymes exhibited different levels of thermostability,
optimum pHs, and kinetic parameters.

Thermostability.
NylC
p2 was stable only up to 40°C after a 30-min incubation.
In contrast, NylC
A and NylC
K retained approximately 90% of their
enzyme activity even after incubation at 55°C and 60°C,
respectively (Fig.
3).

Effect of pH on enzyme activity.
NylC
p2 had an optimum pH at approximately 7.0, whereas the pH
activity curves of NylC
A and NylC
K were shifted 0.5 to 1.0 points
into the alkaline range. Under standard assay conditions (pH
7.3) (see the legend to Fig.
3), NylC
p2 had a specific activity
of 10.6 U/mg, while NylC
A (17.9 U/mg) and NylC
K (18.9 U/mg)
possessed higher enzyme activities.

Kinetic study.
To compare the kinetic parameters, enzyme assays were performed
at pH 7.3, at which pH all NylC samples possess more than 90%
of the activity observed at the optimum pH. NylC
A (
Km = 0.49
mg/ml) and NylC
K (
Km = 0.44 mg/ml) possessed higher affinities
for the Ahx cyclic-oligomer substrate than NylC
p2 (
Km = 3.7
mg/ml), resulting in 13-fold (NylC
A) and 15-fold (NylC
K) greater
kcat/
Km values than that of NylC
p2 (Fig.
3).
Considering the above observations, we suggest that at least one among the five alterations in NylCA (S111, G122, Y130, A137, M225) contributes to the increase in thermostability, the shift of the pH activity profile to the alkaline range, and the increase in the affinity for nylon-related substrates. In addition, at least one of the 10 alterations in NylCK (A36, V41, T50, V60, S62, G230, I231, L257, Q262, A354) is estimated to contribute to the further increase in thermostability (Fig. 3).
In conclusion, we found that the NylC enzymes obtained from alkalophilic Agromyces and Kocuria strains possess higher thermostability, greater activity under alkaline conditions, and greater affinity for nylon-related substrates than NylC from the neutrophilic Arthrobacter strain. Therefore, the observed characteristics of the new NylC proteins should provide great advantages in biotechnological applications.

ADDENDUM
Strain KI72 had been classified as a
Flavobacterium sp. based
upon ordinary Gram staining and physiological tests (
14). However,
reclassification on the basis of its chemotaxonomic characteristics
(
20) and 16S rRNA sequences (this study) revealed that strain
KI72 should be classified as an
Arthrobacter sp.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank N. Norioka (Osaka University) for protein sequencing
analysis of NylC proteins.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Materials Science and Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Hyogo, 2167 Shosha, Himeji, Hyogo 671-2280, Japan. Phone and fax: 81-79-267-4891. E-mail:
negoro{at}eng.u-hyogo.ac.jp 
Published ahead of print on 7 September 2007. 

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2007, p. 7099-7102, Vol. 73, No. 21
0099-2240/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.00777-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.