Purification, characterization, and potential bacterial wax production role of an NADPH-dependent fatty aldehyde reductase from Marinobacter aquaeolei VT8.

ABSTRACT: Wax esters, ester-linked fatty acids and long-chain alcohols, are important energy storage compounds in select bacteria. The synthesis of wax esters from fatty acids is proposed to require the action of a four-enzyme pathway. An essential step in the pathway is the reduction of a fatty aldehyde to the corresponding fatty alcohol, although the enzyme responsible for catalyzing this reaction has yet to be identified in bacteria. We report here the purification and characterization of an enzyme from the wax ester-accumulating bacterium Marinobacter aquaeolei VT8, which is a proposed fatty aldehyde reductase in this pathway. The enzyme, a 57-kDa monomer, was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with the maltose binding protein on the N terminus and was purified to near homogeneity

SUBMITTER: Wahlen BD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2681700 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature