Browsing by Author "Schmitt, Jutta"

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    Blocking the tunnel: engineering of Candida rugosa lipase mutants with short chain length specificity
    (2002) Schmitt, Jutta; Brocca, Stefania; Schmid, Rolf D.; Pleiss, Jürgen
    The molecular basis of chain length specificity of Candida rugosa lipase 1 was investigated by molecular modelling and site-directed mutagenesis. The synthetic lip1 gene and the lipase mutants were expressed in Pichia pastoris and assayed for their chain length specificity in single substrate assays using triglycerides as well as in a competitive substrate assay using a randomized oil. Mutation of amino acids at different locations inside the tunnel (P246F, L413F, L410W, L410F/S300E, L410F/S365L) resulted in mutants with a different chain length specificity. Mutants P246F and L413F have a strong preference for short chain lengths whereas substrates longer than C10 are hardly hydrolyzed. Increasing the bulkiness of the amino acid at position 410 led to mutants that show a strong discrimination of chain lengths longer than C14. The results obtained can be explained by a simple mechanical model: the activity for a fatty acid sharply decreases as it becomes long enough to reach the mutated site. In contrast, a mutation at the entrance of the tunnel (L304F) has a strong impact on C4 and C6 substrates. This mutant is nevertheless capable to hydrolyze chain lengths longer than C8.
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    Directed evolution of a bacterial alpha-amylase : towards enhanced pH-performance and higher specific activity
    (2003) Bessler, Cornelius; Schmitt, Jutta; Maurer, Karl-Heinz; Schmid, Rolf D.
    Alpha-Amylases, in particular, microbial Alpha-amylases are used widely in industrial processes such as starch liquefaction and pulp processes and more recently in detergency. Following the need for Alpha-amylases adapted to latter, we enhanced the alkali-activity of the Alpha-amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BAA). The genes coding for the wild type BAA and the mutants BAA S201N and BAA N297D were subjected to error prone PCR and gene shuffling. For the screening of mutants we developed a novel, reliable assay suitable for high throughput screening based on the Phadebas® assay. One mutant (BAA 42) has an optimal activity at pH 7, corresponding to a shift of one pH unit compared to the wild type. BAA 42 is active over a broader pH-range than the wild type resulting in a fivefold higher activity at pH 10. In addition, the activity in periplasmic extracts and the specific activity increased 4 and 1.5 fold, respectively. Another mutant (BAA 29) possesses a wild type like pH-profile but reveals a 40-fold higher activity in periplasmic extracts and a nine fold higher specific activity. The comparison of the amino acid sequences of these two mutants with other homologous microbial Alpha-amylases revealed the mutation of the highly conserved residues W194R, S197P and A230V. In addition, three further mutations were found K406R, N414S and E356D, the latter being present in other bacterial Alpha-amylases.
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    DNA isolation from soil samples for cloning in different hosts
    (2004) Kauffmann, Isabelle Melanie; Schmitt, Jutta; Schmid, Rolf D.
    Many protocols to extract DNA directly from soil samples have been developed in recent years. We employed two extraction methods which differed in the method of lysis and compared these methods with respect to yield, purity and degree of shearing. The main focus was on the specific isolation of DNA from different microorganisms, especially DNA from actinomycetes, as these cells are very difficult to lyse in contrast to non-actinomycetes. Thus, we used both methods to isolate DNA from Pseudomonas (Entcheva et al. 2001), Arthrobacter and Rhodococcus (Borneman et al. 1996) and from soil spiked with the respective microorganisms. Both methods rendered high DNA yields with a low degree of shearing but differed in the type of cells that were lysed. By one protocol (utilizing enzymatic lysis) only DNA from the Gram-negative Pseudomonas strain could be obtained whereas by the other protocol (utilizing mechanical lysis), all microorganisms that were used could be lysed and DNA from them extracted. Using a combination of both protocols, DNA from those organisms could be obtained selectively. Furthermore, one of the protocols was modified, resulting in higher DNA yield and purity.
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    High-yield expression of the recombinant, atrazine-specific Fab fragment K411B by the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris
    (2001) Lange, Stefan; Schmitt, Jutta; Schmid, Rolf D.
    In this report, we describe the high-yield secretory expression (~ 40 mg l-1) of pure, atrazine-specific Fab fragments (K411B) from P. pastoris that was achieved by co-integration of the genes encoding the heavy and light chains (both under the control of the alcohol oxidase promoter) into the genome of the yeast cells. Antibody-expressing clones were selected by SDS-PAGE and ELISA and fed-batch fermentations were carried out in a 5 l scale. Both chains of the Fab were successfully expressed upon methanol induction and almost no other proteins were secreted into the media. Approximately 30 % of the two chains formed the active Fab fragment containing the intermolecular disulphide bond, as determined by Western blot analysis under non-reducing conditions. Crude culture supernatant was used to study the binding properties of the Fab fragment toward different s-triazines by means of competitive ELISA: the IC50 value for the detection of atrazine was determined from the standard curve as 3 µg l-1, which is one magnitude higher than the value obtained with the parental mAb K4E7 but equals that obtained when the same Fab fragment was expressed in E. coli cells. In addition, the cross-reactivity pattern of the Fab from Pichia is comparable to that of E. coli and the parental mAb K4E7.
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    Identification of factors impeding the production of a single-chain antibody fragment in Escherichia coli by comparing in vivo and in vitro expression
    (2003) Ölschläger, Peter; Lange, Stefan; Schmitt, Jutta; Siemann-Herzberg, Martin; Reuss, Matthias; Schmid, Rolf D.
    In order to produce the atrazine-specific scFv K411B, it was expressed in either the cytoplasm or the periplasm of Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). For periplasmic production, the scFv was N-terminally fused to the pelB leader, whereas the unfused variant resulted in cytoplasmic expression. The extent of protein accumulation differed significantly: The expression level of the scFv with leader was 2.3 times higher than that of the protein without leader. To further investigate this, the respective translation profiles were generated by coupled in vitro transcription/translation assays and gave according results. Periplasmic expression resulted in only 10% correctly folded scFv. The same percentage was obtained when the scFv was expressed in vitro, indicating that the oxidizing environment of the periplasm did not increase proper folding. Thus, the data obtained in vitro confirmed the findings observed in vivo and suggested that the discrepancy in expression levels was due to different translation efficiencies. However, the in vivo production of the scFv with EGFP fused C-terminally (scFv-EGFP) was only successful in the cytoplasm, although in vitro the expression with and without the leader rendered the same production profile. This indicated that neither the translation efficiency nor the solubility but other factors impeded periplasmic expression of the fusion protein.