[Improving applicability of urease from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens JP-21 by site-directed mutagenesis]

Ethyl carbamate (EC) is a carcinogen detected in fermented foods and alcohol beverages. Excessive intake of EC is possibly harmful to health. Enzymatic degradation is one of the most effective approaches for reducing EC in fermented foods. Urease catalyzes the hydrolysis of both EC and urea. This confers urease a good application prospect in reducing EC and its precursor urea in fermented foods. Currently, degradation of EC in alcohol beverages by urease is inefficient due to its low urethanase activity and poor affinity to EC. Urease from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens JP-21 was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli at the level of 3 292 U/L urease and 227.3 U/L urethanase. Two key residues M326 and M374 were characterized that might block the binding of enzyme to EC, through simulating docking the structure of catalytic subunit UreC of urease with EC. Three mutants (M374A, M374T and M326V) of urease with improved urethanase activity were obtained by performing point saturated mutagenesis approach. Using EC as the substrate, Km values of M374A, M374T and M326V were detected to be 101.8 mmol/L, 129.5 mmol/L and 121.7 mmol/L, respectively, which were decreased by 37.47%-50.82% compared with that of the wild type urease. These mutants can degrade more than 97% of urea in rice wine and mutant M374T shows the highest degradation of EC in rice wine. EC content in rice wine was reduced from 525 μg/L to 393 μg/L by using M374T, and the EC degradation rate of it is 0.97 folds higher than that of the wild type urease. The results are of great significance for engineering the catalytic properties of urease and improving its industrial properties, and lays a good foundation for developing strategies to reducing microbial metabolic ammonia (amine) hazards in fermented foods.