Alginate is a linear polysaccharide composed of -D-mannuronate and the C 5 epimer ␣-L-guluronate, arranged in three different ways: poly--D-mannuronate (polyM), poly-␣-L-guluronate (polyG), and heteropolymeric (polyMG) region in which there is a random arrangement of the monomers (4). Alginate produced by brown seaweeds is not acetylated and is widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries because of the ability of the polymer to chelate metal ions and form a highly viscous solution (18). The acetylated form of alginate is synthesized by certain bacteria, such as mucoid cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Azotobacter vinelandii. P. aeruginosa causes serious chronic pulmonary infections in the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) (2), and alginate produced by the bacterial cells seems to play a crucial role in the adherence of the bacterium to target cells (21). The alginate functions as a biofilm and decreases the effect of antimicrobial agents by repressing the penetration of the agent into the biofilm, thus making it difficult to treat biofilm-dependent bacterial infectious diseases (5).A bacterium, Sphingomonas sp. strain A1, incorporates alginate into the cells through a pit formed on the cell surface (8), and an ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporter specific to the macromolecule is responsible for transport of alginate (16) (Fig. 1). The incorporated alginate is depolymerized by three types of cytoplasmic alginate-depolymerizing enzymes (alginate lyases A1-I [66 kDa], A1-II [25 kDa], and A1-III [40 kDa]) formed from a common precursor protein through the consecutive processes of posttranslational modification (Fig. 1) (17). A1-I is autoprocessed to give rise A1-II and A1-III (9), and these alginate lyases cleave glycosidic bonds endolytically in the alginate molecule by -elimination reaction. Briefly, A1-I is active on acetylated and nonacetylated alginates. A1-II prefers polyG and nonacetylated alginate produced by brown seaweeds. A1-III efficiently liquefies polyM and acetylated alginates produced by mucoid cells of P. aeruginosa derived from the lungs of CF patients (17, 32); this property may be useful as a clinical agent for the therapy of CF and other infectious diseases caused by P. aeruginosa.Three alginate lyases (A1-I, A1-II, and A1-III) can produce di-and trisaccharides from alginate as major final products (6, 32), thus implying that the cells of Sphingomonas sp. strain A1 have an additional enzyme responsible for the degradation of alginate oligosaccharides to the constituent monosaccharides. To construct the complete metabolic pathway for alginate in Sphingomonas sp. strain A1, we have purified and characterized the enzyme (oligoalginate lyase) catalyzing the degradation of alginate oligosaccharides and determined its primary structure by cloning the gene.
MATERIALS AND METHODSMaterials. Sodium alginate (average molecular weight, 25,700; polymerization degree, more than 100, viscosity, 1,000 cp) from Eisenia bicyclis and DEAEcellulose were purchased from Nacalai Tesque Co. Ltd.,...