Defining Substrate Specificities for Lipase and Phospholipase Candidates

Summary

Many predicted (phospho)lipases are poorly characterized with regard to their substrate specificities and physiological functions. Here we provide a protocol to optimize enzyme activities, search for natural substrates, and propose physiological functions for these enzymes.

Abstract

Microorganisms produce a wide spectrum of (phospho)lipases that are secreted in order to make external substrates available for the organism. Alternatively, other (phospho)lipases may be physically associated with the producing organism causing a turnover of intrinsic lipids and frequently giving rise to a remodeling of the cellular membranes. Although potential (phospho)lipases can be predicted with a number of algorithms when the gene/protein sequence is available, experimental proof of the enzyme activities, substrate specificities, and potential physiological functions has frequently not been obtained. This manuscript describes the optimization of assay conditions for prospective (phospho)lipases with unknown substrate specificities and how to employ these optimized conditions in the search for the natural substrate of a respective (phospho)lipase. Using artificial chromogenic substrates, such as p-nitrophenyl derivatives, may help to detect a minor enzymatic activity for a predicted (phospho)lipase under standard conditions. Having encountered such a minor enzymatic activity, the distinct parameters of an enzyme assay can be varied in order to obtain a more efficient hydrolysis of the artificial substrate. After having determined the conditions under which an enzyme works well, a variety of potential natural substrates should be assayed for their degradation, a process that can be followed employing distinct chromatographic methods. The definition of substrate specificities for new enzymes, often provides hypotheses for a potential physiological role of these enzymes, which then can be tested experimentally. Following these guidelines, we were able to identify a phospholipase C (SMc00171) that degrades phosphatidylcholine to phosphocholine and diacylglycerol, in a crucial step for the remodeling of membranes in the bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti upon phosphorus-limiting conditions of growth. For two predicted patatin-like phospholipases (SMc00930 and SMc01003) of the same organism, we could redefine their substrate specificities and clarify that SMc01003 is a diacylglycerol lipase.

Introduction

Glycerol-based lipids such as triacylglycerols and (glycero)phospholipids constitute important and probably the best-known lipid classes¹. Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are fats or oils, which usually function as storage lipids, and therefore as potential energy and carbon sources. TAGs can be degraded by lipases, which are frequently secreted by the producing organism to digest external TAGs and make them available as carbon sources. Also, lipases have been widely studied over the years due to their important biotechnological applications².

Due to their amphiphilic nature and their near-cylindric shape, (glycero)phospholipi....

Protocol

1. Clone and Overexpress Structural Gene for Predicted Lipase

1. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)¹⁴ and specific oligonucleotides (Table 1)¹⁵, amplify the gene of interest (smc01003, smc00930, or smc00171), predicted to code for a lipase or phospholipase, from the genomic DNA of the host organism (i.e., S. meliloti).
   1. Introduce specific restriction sites (with the designed sequence of the oligonucleotides). Digest the amplified DNA fragment with the corresponding restriction enzymes and clone it into an expression vector such as plasmids of the pET series^1....

Results

Activity of PC-specific Phospholipase C SMc00171 with Bis-p-nitrophenyl Phosphate

Cell-free extracts obtained from E. coli BL21(DE3) x pLysS, which had smc00171 expressed, were studied for their ability to hydrolyze bis-p-nitrophenyl phosphate esters, using a spectrophotometric enzymatic assay, measuring the p-NP formed. No hydrolytic.......

Discussion

Over the past 20 years, genomes of many organisms have been sequenced and although a wealth of genome sequence data has been generated, functional interpretation is lagging behind and therefore hampers our understanding of genome function. Gene functions in genomes are often assigned based on similarity to genes of known function or occurrence of conserved motifs. However, the precise function of a given gene is often not known. Especially, predicted structural genes for enzymes cannot be easily explored by omic techniqu.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Chloroform	JT Baker	9180-03	TLC analysis & Lipid extraction
Methanol	JT Baker	9070-03	TLC analysis & Lipid extraction
Acetic Acid	JT Baker	9507-05	TLC analysis & Lipid extraction
Hexanes	JT Baker	9309-02	TLC analysis & Lipid extraction
Diethylether	Sigma	32203	Enzymatic assays
bidistilled water	ANY	NA	Enzymatic assays
Tris Base	Sigma	T-1503	Enzymatic assays
HCl	Baker	9535-02	Enzymatic assays
NaCl	Baker	3624-01	Enzymatic assays
Triton X-100	Sigma	X-100	Enzymatic assays
LB broth	ANY	NA	Bacterial growth, 10 g tryptone + 5 g yeast extract + 10 g NaCl per liter of bidistilled water
tryptone	Becton Dickinson and Company	211705	Bacterial growth
yeast extract	Becton Dickinson and Company	212750	Bacterial growth
TY broth	ANY	NA	Bacterial growth, 8 g tryptone + 3 g yeast extract + 66 mg CaCl2·2H2O per liter of bidistilled water
CaCl2·2H2O	Baker	1332-01	Enzymatic assays
isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG)	Invitrogen	15529-019	Bacterial growth
Diethanolamine	Sigma	D-8885	Enzymatic assays
MnCl2	Sigma	221279	Enzymatic assays
Phospholipase A2 snake venom	Sigma	P0790	Enzymatic assays
Phospholipase C Clostridium perfringens	Sigma	P7633	Enzymatic assays
Bis-p-nitrophenyl phosphate	Sigma	07422AH	Enzymatic assays
p-nitrophenyl stearate	Sigma	N3627	Enzymatic assays
p-nitrophenyl dodecanoate	Sigma	61716	Enzymatic assays
p-nitrophenyl decanoate	Sigma	N0252	Enzymatic assays
p-nitrophenyl palmitate	Sigma	N2752	Enzymatic assays
p-nitrophenyl butyrate	Sigma	N9876	Enzymatic assays
p-nitrophenyl octanoate	Sigma	21742	Enzymatic assays
Acetic Acid, sodium salt [1-14C]	Perkin Elmer	NEC084	Bacterial growth
dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO)	JT Baker	9224-01	Enzymatic assays
Aluminium HPTLC silica gel 60 plates. Silica gel HPTLC plates size 20 x 20 cm, 25 sheets.	Merck	105547	TLC analysis & Lipid extraction
Spectrometer UV/VIS Lambda 35	Perkin Elmer	NA	Enzymatic assays
Storm 820 Phosphorimager	Molecular Dynamics	NA	Photostimulable Luminescence scanner
Multipurpose Scintillation Counter	Beckman Coulter	NA	Radioactivity Quantification
French Pressure Cell	ThermoSpectronic	NA	Breakage of cells
chromatography paper 3MM Chr	Whatman	3030917	TLC analysis
Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021our	reference 11		studied strain
Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS Competent cells	Novagen	69451	protein expression strain
pET9a vector	Novagen	69431	protein expression vector
pET17b vector	Novagen	69663	protein expression vector
sterile polystyrene round-bottom tube (14 ml) Falcon	Becton Dickinson	352057	radiolabeling of bacterial cultures
polypropylene microcentrifuge tubes (1.5 ml)	Eppendorf	30125.15	Enzymatic assays
1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol	Sigma	D9135	lipid standard
L-α-phosphatidylcholine, dipalmitoyl	Sigma	P6267	lipid standard
DL-α-monopalmitin	Sigma	M1640	lipid standard
palmitic acid	Sigma	P0500	lipid standard