Rigidifying Flexible Sites: A Promising Strategy to Improve Thermostability of Lysophospholipase From Pyrococcus...

High thermostability of the enzymes is one of the distinguishing characteristics that increase their industrial utility. In the current research work, rigidifying the flexible amino acid residues of a lysophospholipase (Pa-LPL) from Pyrococcus abyssi was used as a protein engineering approach to improve its thermostability. A truncated variant of Pa-LPL (t-LPL∆12) was constructed by trimming its 12 amino acid residues (50-61) through overlap extension PCR. The truncated enzyme worked optimally at 65°C and pH 6.5 with remarkable thermostability at 65°C-85°C. In comparison to wild-type Pa-LPL, 5.8 and 1.2-fold increase in half-life (t_1/2) of t-LPL∆12 was observed at 65 (optimum temperature) and 95°C, respectively. The activity of t-LPL∆12 was stimulated by 1 mM Cu²⁺ followed by Ca²⁺, Ni²⁺, Co²⁺, and Mg²⁺. Both substrate docking and experimental results indicated that the truncated enzyme could hydrolyze a variety of p-nitrophenyl esters. K _m, V _max, and K _cat for enzymatic hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate were calculated to be 1 ± 0.087 mM, 1456 ± 36.474 U/mg, and 1.397 × 10¹¹ min^-1, respectively. In short, broad substrate specificity and thermostability of t-LPL∆12 are some of the distinctive features that make it an ideal candidate for degumming of vegetable oils.