Conversion of a typical catalase from Bacillus sp. TE124 to a catalase-peroxidase by directed evolution

We have converted a typical catalase from Bacillus sp. TE124 to a catalase-peroxidase using DNA shuffling and error-prone PCR. A triple mutant, R47H/R356C/D374N, that showed significantly reduced catalase activity and increased peroxidase activity was identified by screening mutant libraries. When single mutant--R47H, R356C and D374N--were generated by site-directed mutagenesis, conserved Arg-47, located on the distal side of the prosthetic heme group in the superfamily of typical catalases, was found to be responsible for the conversion of catalase to catalase-peroxidase. To further clarify the role of Arg-47, arginine was replaced with different amino acids--alanine, lysine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glutamine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and tyrosine--and the mutant enzymes were assayed. All of the arginine mutants had increased peroxidase activity coupled with reduced catalase activity. Among these mutants, R47W exhibited the highest peroxidase activity, while R47E and R47Q not only had increased peroxidase activity but also retained relatively high catalase activity. These results suggest that tryptophan plays a key role in the catalytic mechanism of the peroxidase reaction and that glutamic acid and glutamine facilitate both catalatic and peroxidatic reactions.