D-Aminoacylase from Alcaligenes faecalis possesses novel activities on D-methionine

D-Aminoacylase isolated from Alcaligenes faecalis DA1 has a great potential for future application in D-amino acids production. This paper reports for the first time that D-aminoacylase can reverse the catalysis direction on D-Met and deacylate N-Ac-D-Met-OMe and N-Ac-D-Met-Gly. The results provide important insights regarding the binding and affinity of substrates to the active site of this enzyme. Based on a systematic study of kinetic properties and relative reactivities for a broad range of substrates, a model to elucidate the reaction mechanism is proposed.