Determination of the active-site serine of 6-aminohexanoate-dimer hydrolase

Diisopropylfluorophosphate, an inhibitor of serine proteinase, was used to label 6-aminohexanoate-dimer hydrolase, a nylon oligomer degradative enzyme of Flavobacterium sp. K172. More than 95% of the enzyme activity was lost upon incorporation of 1-1.5 molecules inhibitor/subunit of the enzyme. The tryptic peptide of the labeled enzyme was purified by HPLC (reverse-phase partition) and its amino acid sequence was identified. Radioactivity was found to be incorporated into an 8-amino-acid peptide (108His-Leu-Leu-Met-Ser-Val-Ser-Lys115). Amino acid alteration from Ser to Ala at the position 112 by site-directed mutagenesis caused loss of enzyme activity to below the detection threshold (1% of the activity of the parental enzyme). These results indicate that Ser112 is essential for the activity.