Endo-1,4-beta-xylanase (EC 3.2.1.8) was isolated from the culture supernatant of Thermotoga sp. strain FjSS3-B.1, an extremely thermophilic anaerobic eubacterium which grows optimally at 80 degrees C. Activity was purified 165-fold by anion-exchange and hydroxyapatite chromatography. The enzyme has an Mr of 31,000 as determined by SDS/PAGE and 35,000 by analytical gel filtration. The optima for...

MOTIVATION A basic question in protein science is to which extent mutations affect protein thermostability. This knowledge would be particularly relevant for engineering thermostable enzymes. In several experimental approaches, this issue has been serendipitously addressed. It would be therefore convenient providing a computational method that predicts when a given protein mutant is more thermo...

Flexible sites are potential targets for engineering the stability of enzymes. Nevertheless, the success rate of the rigidifying flexible sites (RFS) strategy is still low due to a limited understanding of how to determine the best mutation candidates. In this study, two parallel strategies were applied to identify mutation candidates within the flexible loops of Escherichia coli transketolase ...

A greater yield of the active principle was obtained when the cells were allowed to autolyze than when mechanical methods of cell disruption were used. A marked increase in activity was obtained when the crude cell extracts were held for 18 hr at 25 C after acidification to pH 5.0. The activated enzyme was partially purified by precipitation with 95% ethanol. This partially purified extract was...

The loss of activity due to proteolysis of purified L-asparaginase and beta-galactosidase from different sources correlates with the thermal instability of the enzymes. A similar correlation is found when populations of soluble proteins from micro-organisms grown at different temperatures are compared for proteolytic susceptibility and thermal stability. It is proposed that there is a general c...