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Biochemical characterization and phylogenetic analysis of UDP-glucose dehydrogenase from the gellan gum producer Sphingomonas elodea ATCC 31461

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Abstract

Sphingomonas elodea ATCC 31461 synthesizes in high yield the exopolysaccharide gellan, which is a water-soluble gelling agent with many applications. In this study, we describe the cloning and sequence analysis of the ugdG gene, encoding a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (47.2 kDa; UDPG-DH; EC 1.1.1.22), required for the synthesis of the gellan gum precursor UDP-glucuronic acid. UgdG protein shows homology to members of the UDP-glucose/GDP-mannose dehydrogenase superfamily. The Neighbor-Joining method was used to determine phylogenetic relationships among prokaryotic and eukaryotic UDPG-DHs. UgdG from S. elodea and UDPG-DHs from Novosphingobium, Zymomonas, Agrobacterium, and Caulobacter species form a divergent phylogenetic group with a close evolutionary relationship with eukaryotic UDPG-DHs. The ugdG gene was recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli with and N-terminal 6-His tag and purified for biochemical characterization. The enzyme has an optimum temperature and pH of 37°C and 8.7, respectively. The estimated apparent K m values for UDP-glucose and NAD+ were 0.87 and 0.4 mM, respectively. DNA sequencing of chromosomal regions adjacent to ugdG gene and sequence similarity studies suggests that this gene maps together with others presumably involved in the biosynthesis of S. elodea cell wall polysaccharides.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the FEDER, the POCTI Programme and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (grants POCTI/BME/44441/2002 and POCTI/BIO/58401/2004), and Ph.D., BIC, and postdoctoral fellowships to A.T. Granja, A. Popescu, and A.R. Marques, respectively). We thank Dr. Jorge H Leitão for helpful discussions.

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  1. IBB—Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre for Biological and Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal

    Ana Teresa Granja, Alma Popescu, Ana Rita Marques, Isabel Sá-Correia & Arsenio M. Fialho

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  1. Ana Teresa Granja
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  2. Alma Popescu
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  3. Ana Rita Marques
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  4. Isabel Sá-Correia
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  5. Arsenio M. Fialho
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Correspondence to Arsenio M. Fialho.

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Granja, A.T., Popescu, A., Marques, A.R. et al. Biochemical characterization and phylogenetic analysis of UDP-glucose dehydrogenase from the gellan gum producer Sphingomonas elodea ATCC 31461. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 76, 1319–1327 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-007-1112-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-007-1112-8

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