Molecular cloning, heterologous expression, and enzymatic characterization of lysoplasmalogen-specific phospholipase D from Thermocrispum sp.

Lysoplasmalogen (LyPls)-specific phospholipase D (LyPls-PLD) is an enzyme that catalyses the hydrolytic cleavage of the phosphoester bond of LyPls, releasing ethanolamine or choline, and 1-(1-alkenyl)-sn-glycero-3-phosphate (lysoplasmenic acid). Little is known about LyPls-PLD and metabolic pathways of plasmalogen (Pls). Reportedly, Pls levels in human serum/plasma correlate with several diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and arteriosclerosis as well as a variety of biological processes including apoptosis and cell signaling. We identified a LyPls-PLD from Thermocrispum sp. strain RD004668, and the enzyme was purified, characterized, cloned, and expressed using pET24a(+)/Escherichia coli with a His tag. The enzyme's preferred substrate was choline LyPls (LyPlsCho), with only modest activity toward ethanolamine LyPls. Under optimum conditions (pH 8.0 and 50 °C), steady-state kinetic analysis for LyPlsCho yielded K_m and k_cat values of 13.2 μm and 70.6 s⁻¹, respectively. The ORF of LyPls-PLD gene consisted of 1005 bp coding a 334-amino-acid (aa) protein. The deduced aa sequence of LyPls-PLD showed high similarity to those of glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterases (GDPDs); however, the substrate specificity differed completely from those of GDPDs and general phospholipase Ds (PLDs). Structural homology modeling showed that two putative catalytic residues (His46, His88) of LyPls-PLD were highly conserved to GDPDs. Mutational and kinetic analyses suggested that Ala55, Asn56, and Phe211 in the active site of LyPls-PLD may participate in the substrate recognition. These findings will help to elucidate differences among LyPls-PLD, PLD, and GDPD with regard to function, substrate recognition mechanism, and biochemical roles. Data Accessibility: Thermocrispum sp. strain RD004668 and its 16S rDNA sequence were deposited in the NITE Patent Microorganisms Depositary (NPMD; Chiba, Japan) as NITE BP-01628 and in the DDBJ database under the accession number AB873024. The nucleotide sequences of the 16S rDNA of strain RD004668 and the LyPls-PLD gene were deposited in the DDBJ database under the accession numbers AB873024 and AB874601, respectively. Enzyme: EC number EC 3.1.4.4.