Background: Cellulases played an important role in the production of bioenergy and bio-products. Cellulases from bacteria with some special characteristics drew great attention due to its fast growth speed, wide adaption to harsh environment, and production of multi-function cellulases.Results: An endoglucanase gene egls from Bacillus velezensis A4 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant enzyme Egls was partially purified using aqueous two-phase system. The highest recovery rate of the enzyme was 90.39% at PEG 4000 (25% w/w), phosphate buffer 8.08% (w/w) (pH 6.0), and NaCl (5% w/w). The enzyme molecular weight was 55 KD estimated by zymogram. The optimal pH and temperature of recombinant enzyme Egls were pH 6.0 and 55 °C, respectively. The enzyme was stable at pH range of 5.0-7.0 at 55 °C for 60 min. The enzyme exhibited K m , V max , K cat values as 63.38 mg/ml, 55.6 mg/min, and 3.93 × 10 3 /S, respectively. The addition of 10 mM of Mg 2+ , Mn 2+ , or 5% (w/w) of Triton-X 100 in the reaction system enhanced the enzyme activity significantly. The enzyme showed both endoglucanase and exoglucanase activity.
Conclusions:An endoglucanase gene egls from B. velezensis A4 was cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The recombinant enzyme Egls was purified by aqueous two-phase system and characterized. The enzyme can be applied for the efficient pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for bioenergy and bio-products production.