Characterization of an archaeal malic enzyme from the hyperthermophilic archaeonThermococcus kodakaraensisKOD1

Abstract

Although the interconversion between C4 and C3 compounds has an important role in overall metabolism, limited information is available on the properties and regulation of enzymes acting on these metabolites in hyperthermophilic archaea. Malic enzyme is one of the enzymes involved in this interconversion, catalyzing the oxidative decarboxylation of malate to pyruvate as well as the reductive carboxylation coupled with NAD(P)H. This study focused on the enzymatic properties and expression profile of an uncharacterized homolog of malic enzyme identified in the genome of a heterotrophic, hyperthermophilic archaeonT hermococcus kodakaraensisKOD1 (Tk-Mae). The amino acid sequence ofTk-Mae was 52–58% identical to those of malic enzymes from bacteria, whereas the similarities to the eukaryotic homologs were lower. Several catalytically important regions and residues were conserved in the primary structure ofTk-Mae. The recombinant protein, which formed a homodimer, exhibited thermostable malic enzyme activity with strict divalent cation dependency. The enzyme preferred NADP+rather than NAD+, but did not catalyze the decarboxylation of oxaloacetate, unlike the usual NADP-dependent malic enzymes. The apparent Michaelis constant (Km) ofTk-Mae for malate (16.9 mM) was much larger than those of known enzymes, leading to no strong preference for the reaction direction. Transcription of the gene encodingTk-Mae and intracellular malic enzyme activity inT. kodakaraensiswere constitutively weak, regardless of the growth substrates. Possible roles ofTk-Mae are discussed based on these results and the metabolic pathways ofT. kodakaraensisdeduced from the genome sequence.