Activity Enhancement of Cel5Z from Pectobacterium chrysanthemi PY35 by Removing C-Terminal Region

The phytopathogenic bacterium Pectobacteium chrysanthemi PY35 secretes Cel5Z endoglucanase belonging to the glycoside hydrolase family 5 of EC 3.2.1.4. The mutation of cel5Z::Ω gene was constructed by cloning the 2.0-kb SmaI fragment containing the streptomycin/spectinomycin-resistance gene of pHP45Ω into the BalI site of pPY100. The insertion of Ω fragment generated a new stop codon, removing the Ser/Thr-rich linker region and the cellulose binding domain (CBD) in the C-terminal region of cel5Z gene. By subsequent subcloning from this 4.9-kb fragment (pPY1001), a 1.0-kb (pPY1002) fragment was obtained and designated as cel5Z::Ω. The cel5Z::Ω gene had an open reading frame (ORF) of 1011 bp, encoding 336 amino acids, starting with an ATG codon and ending with a new TGA stop codon. The molecular mass of the Cel5Z::Ω protein in E. coli transformant appeared to be 32 kDa by SDS–PAGE analysis in the presence of carboxymethyl-cellulose (CMC). The Cel5Z::Ω protein hydrolyzed CMC with 1.7-fold higher activity than the intact Cel5Z cellulase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]