Engineering the Expression and Characterization of Two Novel Laccase Isoenzymes from Coprinus comatus in Pichia pastoris by Fusing an Additional Ten Amino Acids Tag at N-Terminus

The detail understanding of physiological/biochemical characteristics of individual laccase isoenzymes in fungi is necessary for fundamental and application purposes, but our knowledge is still limited for most of fungi due to difficult to express laccases heterologously. In this study, two novel laccase genes, named lac3 and lac4, encoding proteins of 547 and 532-amino acids preceded by 28 and 16-residue signal peptides, respectively, were cloned from the edible basidiomycete Coprinus comatus. They showed 70% identity but much lower homology with other fungal laccases at protein level (less than 58%). Two novel laccase isoenzymes were successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris by fusing an additional 10 amino acids (Thr-Pro-Phe-Pro-Pro-Phe-Asn-Thr-Asn-Ser) tag at N-terminus, and the volumetric activities could be dramatically enhanced from undetectable level to 689 and 1465 IU/l for Lac3 and Lac4, respectively. Both laccases possessed the lowest K (m) and highest k (cat)/K (m) value towards syringaldazine, followed by ABTS, guaiacol and 2,6-dimethylphenol similar as the low redox potential laccases from other microorganisms. Lac3 and Lac4 showed resistant to SDS, and retained 31.86% and 43.08% activity in the presence of 100 mM SDS, respectively. Lac3 exhibited higher decolorization efficiency than Lac4 for eleven out of thirteen different dyes, which may attribute to the relatively higher catalytic efficiency of Lac3 than Lac4 (in terms of k (cat)/K (m)) towards syringaldazine and ABTS. The mild synergistic decolorization by two laccases was observed for triphenylmethane dyes but not for anthraquinone and azo dyes.