Recombinant malic enzyme from the aerobic methanotroph Methylosinus trichosporium was obtained by heterologous expression in Escherichia coli and purified by affinity metal-chelating chromatography. The homohexameric enzyme of 6×80 kDa catalyzed the reversible reaction of oxidative decarboxylation of malate to pyruvate in the presence of mono- and divalent cations and NADP+ as a cofactor. The kcat/Km ratio indicated much higher catalytic efficiency of the malate decarboxylation reaction as compared with the pyruvate carboxylation reaction. Analysis of the protein sequence revealed that the C-region of the enzyme contains a large domain homologous to phosphoacetyltransferase, but no phosphoacetyltransferase activity was detected either for a full chimeric malic enzyme or for the C-end fragment obtained as a separate protein. This C-end domain promoted activity of the malic enzyme.