The recombinant fructosyltransferase (Ftf) of Streptococcus salivarius was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to electrophoretic homogeneity after a combination of adsorption, ion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography. The N-terminal signal sequence of the Ftf was removed by E. coli at the same site as in its natural host. The purified Ftf exhibited maximum activity at pH 6.0 and 37 degrees C, was activated by Ca2+, but inhibited by the metal ions Cu2+, Zn2+, Hg2+ and Fe3+. The enzyme catalysed the transfer of the fructosyl moiety of sucrose to a number of acceptors, including water, glucose and sucrose via a Ping Pong mechanism involving a fructosyl-enzyme intermediate. While this mechanism of catalysis is utilized by the levansucrases of Bacillus subtilis and Acetobacter diazotrophicus and the values of the kinetic constants for the three enzymes are similar, sucrose was a far more efficient fructosyl-acceptor for the Ftf of S. salivarius than for the two other enzymes.

The recombinant fructosyltransferase (Ftf) of Streptococcus salivarius was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to electrophoretic homogeneity after a combination of adsorption, ion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography. The N-terminal signal sequence of the Ftf was removed by E. coli at the same site as in its natural host. The purified Ftf exhibited maximum activity at pH 6.0 and 37 degrees C, was activated by Ca2+, but inhibited by the metal ions Cu2+, Zn2+, Hg2+ and Fe3+. The enzyme catalysed the transfer of the fructosyl moiety of sucrose to a number of acceptors, including water, glucose and sucrose via a Ping Pong mechanism involving a fructosyl-enzyme intermediate. While this mechanism of catalysis is utilized by the levansucrases of Bacillus subtilis and Acetobacter diazotrophicus and the values of the kinetic constants for the three enzymes are similar, sucrose was a far more efficient fructosyl-acceptor for the Ftf of S. salivarius than for the two other enzymes.

No abstract

The site-directed mutated fructosyltransferases (Ftfs) of Streptococcus salivarius ATCC 25975, D312E, D312S, D312N and D312K were all active at 37 °C, indicating that Asp-312 present in the ‘sucrose box’ was not the nucleophilic Asp residue responsible for the formation of a covalent fructosyl-enzyme intermediate required for enzyme activity. Analysis of the kinetic constants of the purified mutated forms of the enzyme showed that Asp-312 was most likely an essential amino acid involved in determining acceptor recognition and/or stabilizing a β-turn in the protein. In contrast, when the Asp-397 of the Ftf present in the conserved triplet RDP motif of all 60 bacterial and plant family-32 glycosylhydrolases was mutated to a Ser residue, both sucrose hydrolysis and polymerization ceased. Tryptophan emission spectra confirmed that this mutation did not alter protein structure. Comparison of published data from other site-directed mutated enzymes implicated the Asp residue in the RDP motif as the one that may form a transient covalent fructosyl intermediate during the catalysis of sucrose by the Ftf of S. salivarius.

The site-directed mutated fructosyltransferases (Ftfs) of Streptococcus salivarius ATCC 25975, D312E, D312S, D312N and D312K were all active at 37 degrees C, indicating that Asp-312 present in the 'sucrose box' was not the nucleophilic Asp residue responsible for the formation of a covalent fructosyl-enzyme intermediate required for enzyme activity. Analysis of the kinetic constants of the purified mutated forms of the enzyme showed that Asp-312 was most likely an essential amino acid involved in determining acceptor recognition and/or stabilizing a beta-turn in the protein. In contrast, when the Asp-397 of the Ftf present in the conserved triplet RDP motif of all 60 bacterial and plant family-32 glycosylhydrolases was mutated to a Ser residue, both sucrose hydrolysis and polymerization ceased. Tryptophan emission spectra confirmed that this mutation did not alter protein structure. Comparison of published data from other site-directed mutated enzymes implicated the Asp residue in the RDP motif as the one that may form a transient covalent fructosyl intermediate during the catalysis of sucrose by the Ftf of S. salivarius.