Abstract.
We have cloned, sequenced, and overexpressed in Escherichia coli the amidase gene from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus (strain MT4). The recombinant thermophilic protein was expressed as a fusion protein with an N-terminus six-histidine-residue affinity tag. The enzyme, the first characterized archaeal amidase, is a monomer of 55,784 daltons, enantioselective, and active on 2- to 6-carbon aliphatic amides and on many aromatic amides, over the pH range 4–9 and at temperatures from 60° to 95°C. The S. solfataricus amidase belongs to the class of amidases that share a characteristic signature, GGSS(S/G)GS, located in the central region of the protein, and which show remarkable variability in their individual substrate specificities, can hydrolyze aliphatic or aromatic substrates, and share a large invariance of their primary structure.
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d' Abusco, A., Ammendola, S., Scandurra, R. et al. Molecular and biochemical characterization of the recombinant amidase from hyperthermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus . Extremophiles 5, 183–192 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007920100190
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007920100190