AhlX, an <i>N</i>-acylhomoserine Lactonase with Unique Properties

oleh: Pengfu Liu, Yan Chen, Zongze Shao, Jianwei Chen, Jiequn Wu, Qian Guo, Jiping Shi, Hong Wang, Xiaohe Chu

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-06-01

Deskripsi

<i>N</i>-Acylhomoserine lactonase degrades the lactone ring of <i>N</i>-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) and has been widely suggested as a promising candidate for use in bacterial disease control. While a number of AHL lactonases have been characterized, none of them has been developed as a commercially available enzymatic product for in vitro AHL quenching due to their low stability. In this study, a highly stable AHL lactonase (AhlX) was identified and isolated from the marine bacterium <i>Salinicola salaria</i> MCCC1A01339. AhlX is encoded by a 768-bp gene and has a predicted molecular mass of 29 kDa. The enzyme retained approximately 97% activity after incubating at 25 &#176;C for 12 days and ~100% activity after incubating at 60 &#176;C for 2 h. Furthermore, AhlX exhibited a high salt tolerance, retaining approximately 60% of its activity observed in the presence of 25% NaCl. In addition, an AhlX powder made by an industrial spray-drying process attenuated <i>Erwinia carotovora</i> infection. These results suggest that AhlX has great potential for use as an in vitro preventive and therapeutic agent for bacterial diseases.