Thermoacidophilic Alicyclobacillus Superoxide Dismutase: Good Candidate as Additives in Food and Medicine
Xueqian Dong, Wei Wang, Shannan Li, Hongyu Han, Peiwen Lv, Chunyu Yang
Abstract
Thermoacidophilic Alicyclobacillus strains attract great interests as the resource of thermostable or acidic enzymes. In this study, a putative gene encoding superoxide dismutase ( Aa SOD) was identified in a thermoacidophilic Alicyclobacillus strain. With a 16-fold activity observed, the Aa SOD activity expressing in the medium of manganese enrichment was much higher than that in the iron medium. In addition, the purified Aa SOD can be reconstituted exclusively with either Fe 2+ or Mn 2+ , with its Mn-bound protein showing 25-fold activity than that of Fe-bound form. The optimal temperature for Aa SOD reaction was 35°C, and was highly stable at any certain temperature up to 80°C. Of particular interest, the enzyme is found to be very stable across a wide pH range spanning from 2.0 to 10.0, which confers its robust stability in the acidic stomach environment and implies striking potentials as food additive and for medical use.