Biochemical properties and potential applications of a solvent-stable protease from the high-yield protease producer pseudomonas aeruginosa PT121

An organic solvent-stable protease from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PT121 was purified in a single step with 55% recovery by hydrophobic interaction chromatography on a Phenyl Sepharose High Performance matrix. The purified protease was homogenous on SDS-PAGE and had an estimated molecular mass of 33 kDa. The optimal pH and temperature conditions for enzyme activity were 8.0 and 60°C, respectively. The enzyme was classified as a metalloprotease based on its strong inhibition by EDTA and 1,10-phenanthroline and exhibited good stability across a broad pH range (6.0-11.0). The protease was quite stable in the presence of various water-miscible organic solvents. This is a unique property of the protease which makes it an ideal choice for application in aqueous-organic phase organic synthesis including peptides synthesis. The synthetic activity of the protease was tested using N-carbobenzoxy-l-asparagine (Z-Asp) and l-phenylalaninamide (Phe-NH₂) as substrate in the presence of various water-miscible organic solvents for aspartame precursor synthesis. The highest yield was obtained in the presence of 50% DMSO (91%). The synthesis rate in the presence of DMSO was also much higher than the rates in the other tested organic solvents, and the initial rates of Z-Asp-Phe-NH ₂ synthesis in mixtures of various water-miscible organic solvents, with the exception of ethanol, correlated with the yields of Z-Asp-Phe-NH ₂. Furthermore, the PT121 protease was able to use various carboxyl components (Z-AA) and Phe-NH₂ as substrates to catalyze the syntheses of the dipeptides, indicating that this protease has a broad specificity for carboxylic acid residue.