Bioinformatics characterization of potential new beta-glucuronidase from Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus

Mol Biotechnol. 2010 Mar;44(3):232-41. doi: 10.1007/s12033-009-9234-0.

Abstract

Recently, the gene coding for a new beta-glucuronidase enzyme has been identified and cloned from Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus. This is another report of a beta-glucuronidase gene cloned from bacterial species. The ORF Finder analysis of a sequenced DNA (EMBL, AJ890474) revealed a presence of 1,785 bp large ORF potentially coding for a 594 aa protein. Three protein families in (Pfam) domains were identified using the Conserved Domain Database (CDD) analysis: Pfam 02836, glycosyl hydrolases family 2, triose phosphate isomerase (TIM) barrel domain; Pfam 02837, glycosyl hydrolases family 2, sugar binding domain; and Pfam 00703, glycosyl hydrolases family 2, immunoglobulin-like beta-sandwich domain. To gain more insight into the enzymatic activity, the domains were used to generate a bootstrapped unrooted distance tree using ClustalX. The calculated distances for two domains, TIM barrel domain, and sugar-binding domain were comparable and exhibited similarity pattern based on function and thus being in accordance with recently published works confirming beta-glucuronidase activity of the enzyme. The calculated distances and the tree arrangement in the case of centrally positioned immonoglobulin-like beta-sandwich domain were somewhat higher when compared to other two domains but clustering with other beta-glucuronidases was rather clear. Nine proteins, including beta-glucuronidases, beta-galactosidase, and mannosidase were selected for multiple alignment and subsequent distance tree creation.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Base Sequence
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Computational Biology*
  • Glucuronidase / genetics*
  • Horses
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary / genetics
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
  • Streptococcus equi / genetics*

Substances

  • Glucuronidase