Bacterial collagenase gene

Abstract: A collagenase gene derived from bacteria of the species Vibrio alginolyticus is disclosed. A recombinant vector containing the gene, a host cell transformed with a plasmid containing the gene and a process for the production of a collagenase by using the host cells are also disclosed.

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a collagenase gene derived from Vibrio alginolyticus , a recombinant vector integrating the gene, a host cell transformed with the vector, and the use thereof. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Collagen which constitutes connective tissues of animals is composed of three polypeptide chains, each basic unit of which has a molecular weight of about 95,000. These polypeptide chains form a counterclockwise triplex spiral structure. The amino acid sequence of each polypeptide chain of the collagen molecule is a repetition of Gly-Pro-X-Gly (wherein the three-letter code representing amino acid residues used herein are those according to IUPAC-IUB standards and X represents various amino acid residues) and the polypeptides are intramolecularly or intermolecularly closslinked. This specific spiral structure of collagen brings about tough mechanical properties and chemical stability and, therefore, collagen resists to ordinary proteases and only a collagenase can degrade collagen. A collagenase does not acts on ordinary proteins, but acts on only the above collagen or its modified product, gelatin. Collagenases are produced by microorganisms and, among these collagenases, the study on the collagenase known as Achromobacter collagenase which is derived from Vibrio alginolyticus chemovar. iophagus is most advanced. It has been known that this collagenase has a higher specific activity in comparison with collagenases derived from other sources [V. Keil-Dlouha and B. Keil, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 522 , 218-228 (1978)]. Achromobacter collagenase has the molecular weight of 110,000 and is stable at pH 6 to 7. The optimum pH is about pH 7.4. The collagenase, which is inactivated by EDTA and o-phenanthroline [V. Keil-Dlouha, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 429 , 239-251 (1976)], is a metalloprotease containing zinc, and breaks the synthetic substrate, PZ-Pro-Leu-Gly-Pro-D-Arg, between Leu and Gly [B. Keil, A.M. Gilles, A. Lecroisey, N. Hurion and N.T. tong, FEBS Lett., 56 , 292-296 (1975); A. Lecroisey, V. Keil-Dlouha, D.R. Woods, D. Perrin and B. Keil, FEBS Lett., 59 , 167-172 (1975); N.T. Tong, A. Tsugita and V. Keil-Dlouha, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 874, 296-304 (1986)]. A preparation having collagenase activity is disclosed in EP-A-0 115 974. In view of the specific property of a collagenase, various uses have been expected and realized. For example, a collagenase is used for treatment of various injuries of any substrate having a structure being rich in collagen. Examples of such injuries include burn, ulcer, scab, white hard scab of collagen base, cheloid, necrosis, particularly, necrosis by decubitus or ulcer, and the like. A collagenase is also used for treatment of dental caries. Namely, the dental pulp is mainly composed of a dense calcareous material and collagen. In the case of dental caries, a tooth is cracked or a hole is made and calcium is leaked therefrom. Accordingly, the calcareous material is lost, and the remaining frame becomes porous and is liable to be a hotbed of bacterial infection. However, since a collagenase dissolves the porous collagen, the hotbed can be removed by washing with water. A collagenase does not act on healthy calcareous collagen. In addition, a collagenase can be used as an agent for making meat tender. Toughness of meat is mainly caused by tendon the main component of which is collagen. Proteases such as papain and the like are used to make meat tender by degrading tendon. However, collagen is hardly degraded by ordinary proteases. On the other hand, non-specific proteases such as papain also degrade proteins such as actin, myosin and the like which have great influence on the texture of meat. Therefore, the texture of meat is disappeared by treatment with papain. In this respect, since a collagenase degrades only collagen which causes toughness of meat, but does not degrade other proteins which have great influence on the texture of meat, the enzyme is a protease most suitable for an agent for making meat tender. In the use of a collagenase for the above purposes, there is a problem that it is very difficult to obtain a collagenase at a low cost. Namely, in order to obtain Achromobacter collagenase, its producer, Vibrio alginolyticus , is cultivated and the collagenase is recovered from the culture solution and purified. However, in this respect, there is a problem that the yield of collagenase by the producer is very low such as 10 mg/liter. Further, there is another problem that any collagenase is not produced by the producer unless a certain specific inducing substance is added to a culture medium. Thus, it is very difficult to obtain the collagenase in a large amount at a low cost. Although it is possible to employ genetic engineering techniques to solve these problems, any gene of Achromobacter collagenase is not yet available. Therefore, no genetic engineering technique can be employed to produce the enzyme in a large amount. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present inventors have studied intensively to solve these problems. As a result, the present inventors have successfully obtained a gene of Achromobacter collagenase and clarified its amino acid sequence, whereby it is possible to produce Achromobacter collagenase in a large amount in a suitable host and to improve a collagenase by means of genetic engineering techniques. One object of the present invention is to provide a gene of Achromobacter collagenase. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recombinant vector containing the gene of Achromobacter collagenase. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a host cell transformed by the vector. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a process for the production of Achromobacter collagenase by using the host cell. These objects as well as other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF EXPLANATION OF DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a restriction map of a DNA fragment of 7.0 kb containing the collagenase gene of the present invention which composes the plasmid pLCO-1. In Fig. 1, the arrow at the bottom part represents the collagenase structural gene region as well as the direction of transcription. The number in the parentheses is that of the base. The dotted line means that the restriction cleavage site can not be specified between the two sites. Fig. 2 is the entire DNA base sequence of a DNA fragment containing the collagenase gene and an amino acid sequence of the collagenase deduce from the base sequence. In Fig. 2, the regions underlined by the solid line represent the parts corresponding to the partial amino acid sequences (see Example 3 hereinafter) of the purified collagenase. Fig. 3 illustrates an analytical result of Western blotting of a collagenase gene product in Escherichia coli . In Fig. 3, the arrows represent the migration positions of markers having various molecular weights which were subjected to Western blotting simultaneously. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a collagenase gene derived from bacteria of the species Vibrio alginolyticus and represented by the restriction map as shown in Figure 1. The present invention also provides a recombinant vector containing the above gene of the present invention, and a host cell transformed with a plasmid containing the gene of the present invention. The present invention further provides a process for the production of a collagenase which comprises cultivating the host cells to produce the collagenase and recovering the collagenase thus produced from the cells or culture solution. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The bacteria of the species Vibrio alginolyticus to be used for obtaining the collagenase gene of the present invention is not specifically limited and any known producer of Achromobacter collagenase can be used. For example, Vibrio alginolyticus disclosed by I. Emonto et al. in Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 33 , 451-459, 1983. Further, the isolation of a bacterial DNA, preparation of a gene library and screening can be conducted according to the conventional methods as shown in Examples hereinafter. As host cells, Escherichia coli , Bacillus subtilis and the like can be used. As vectors, pUC18, pUC19, pBR322, pGEM3, pGEM4 and the like which can be replicated in Escherichia coli as well as pUB110, pE194, pC194 and the like which can be replicated in Bacillus subtilis can be used. In order to produce a collagenase by using the host cells transformed by the plasmid containing the collagenase gene thus obtained, for example, the cells are cultivated in a suitable culture medium containing suitable carbon sources, nitrogen sources and trace amounts of metallic elements according to the method described by A. Lecroisey et al. in FEBS Lett., 59 , 167-172, 1975. The resultant culture is recovered by the conventional method and the supernatant of the culture is subjected to ammonium sulfate precipitation (60% saturated). Then, the enzyme is purified by chromatography, for example, DEAE column chromatography, Sephadex G-100 column chromatography and the like to obtain the desired collagenase. The collagenase thus obtained can be used according to the same manner as that of known collagenases. The following Examples further illustrate the present invention in detail but are not to be construed to limit the scope thereof. Example 1 Preparation of gene library According to the conventional method [e.g., Saito-Miura Method (H. Saito and K. Miura, Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 72 , 619, 1963), etc.], an entire DNA was isolated from an Achromobacter collagenase producer, Vibrio alginolyticus obtained from The National Collection of Industrial Bacteria (NCIB) [VIBRIO ALGINOLYTICUS SUBSP, IOPHAGUS AL, 11038 R.L. Welton / South African cured hides / (62SC)]. The DNA was partially cleaved with the restriction enzyme Sau 3Al and fractionated by agarose gel electrophoresis to obtain a DNA fragment of 5 kb or more. The DNA fragment was ligated to the vector pUC18 treated with Bam Hl by T4 ligase. Escherichia coli JM101 was transformed by the resultant ligation mixture according to the conventional method (e.g., M. Mandel and A. Higa, J. Mol. Biol., 53 , 154, 1970) to obtain a gene library of Vibrio alginolyticus as an ampicillin resistant transformant. Example 2 Screening of gene library In order to select a transformant producing the collagenase, Achromobacter collagenase antibody was prepared according to the conventional method [e.g., Zoku-Seikagaku Zikken Ho (Methods of Biochemical Experiments Second Series), edited by the Biochemical Society of Japan, Vol. 5, pp. 1 to 25, 1986]. Namely, a purified collagenase (1 mg) was mixed with Freund's incomplete adjuvant and a rabbit was immunized by subcutaneously injecting the mixture. Further, the same operation was repeated once a week for 3 weeks to give booster immunization. In the fourth week, whole blood was collected and an IgG fraction was prepared by ammonium sulfate fractionation. The antibody was labeled with peroxidase according to a known method such as that using sodium periodate [Meneki Zikkensosa Ho (Methods for Immunological Experiments) VI, edited by the Immunological Society of Japan, p 1835]. The anti-collagenase antibody labeled with the enzyme thus obtained was used for selection of clones expressing an antigen which was able to react with the antibody from the above-prepared gene library to obtain plasmids pLCO-1, pLCO-2 and pLCO-3. The plasmid pLCO-1 has a DNA fragment of about 7.0 kb derived from Vibrio alginolyticus inserted therein. The restriction map of the DNA fragment inserted in pLCO-1 is shown in Fig. 1. Further, Escherichia coli JM101 containing the plasmid pLCO-1 was named as Escherichia coli SAM 1514 and deposited with Fermentation Research Institute, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology (FRI) under Budapest treaty on November 22, 1989 under the accession number of FERM BP-3113. Example 3 Determination of amino acid sequence Partial amino acid sequences of Achromobacter collagenase were determined as follows: Purified Achromobacter collagenase was partially hydrolyzed with trypsin or protease V8, respectively according to the conventional method (e.g., Zoku-Seikagaku Zikken Ho, Vol. 2, pp. 260-270, edited by the Biochemical Society of Japan). The peptide fragments thus obtained were purified by high performance liquid chromatography and then their amino acid sequences were determined by automatic Edman degradation method. As a result, it has been found that Achromobacter collagenase of the present invention has the amino acid sequences of the following 20 peptide fragments. wherein A is alanine, C is cysteine, D is aspartic acid, E is glutamic acid, F is phenylalanine, G is glycine, H is histidine, I is isoleucine, K is lysine, L is leucine, M is methionine, N is asparagine, P is proline, Q is glutamine, R is arginine, S is serine, T is threonine, V is valine, W is tryptophan and Y is tyrosine. Example 4 Determination of DNA base sequence The base sequence of the fragment of 4.1 kb in the DNA fragment of 7.0 kb composing the plasmid pLCO-1 was determined as follows: Namely, the plasmid pLCO-1 was cleaved with various restriction enzymes to prepare DNA fragments of about 500 bp. These fragments were cloned into phage M13 and the DNA base sequences of each recombinant phage DNA were determined by dideoxy method (F. Sanger et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 74 , 5963-5967, 1977). A DNA base sequence of about 4 kb was determind by joining respective sequences of DNA fragments. The DNA base sequence thus determined is shown in Fig. 2. The DNA base sequence is composed of 4054 base pairs and the entire region of Achromobacter collagenase gene is contained therein. As seen from Fig. 2, there is an open reading frame corresponding to the collagenase which is composed of 2442 base pairs initiated from ATG of Base Nos. 1337 to 1339 and terminated by TAG of Base Nos. 3779 to 3781 in the DNA sequence. The ribosome binding site, GAAGAAA, is located at 5 bp prior to the ATG initiation codon. When amino acid sequences deduced from the DNA base sequence thus determined were compared with the partial amino acid sequences determined in Example 3, the following 20 amino acid sequences agreed with each other. Example 5 Analysis of gene product A recombinant plasmid for the mass production of the collagenase gene in Escherichia coli was prepared. Bam HI linker was inserted into Hpa I site at Base No. 1213 on the DNA fragment of 7 kb composing the plasmid pLCO-1 and Sal I linker was inserted into Eco RV site at Base No. 3936 on the DNA fragment. The resultant pLCO-1 containing these two linkers was cleaved with Bam HI and Sal I to obtain a DNA fragment of 2.7 kb containing the entire collagenase gene. The DNA fragment was recovered and inserted into Bam HI/ Sal I site of the vector pUC18 to obtain a recombinant plasmid pHUC14. Escherichia coli JM109 was transformed with the recombinant plasmid pHUC14 to obtained a recombinant Escherichia coli for the mass production of the collagenase. The Achromobacter collagenase gene product in the recombinant Escherichia coli was analyzed by electrophoresis and Western blotting. Western blotting was conducted by modified Burnette method [Burnette, W.N., Anal. Biochem., 112 , 680-685 (1981)]. The recombinant Escherichia coli containing the collagenase gene was cultured in L-broth containing 1 mM of IPTG at 37°C for 17 hours. The cells were collected by centrifugation and broken by sonication. The sonicated cell suspension was fractionated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The protein thus fractionated was transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane by Western blotting and color of only the bands of the collagenase was developed by an anti-collagenase antibody from a rabbit and an anti-rabbit IgG antibody labeled with peroxidase according to the same manner as that decsribed above. As shown in Fig. 3, many bands which reacted with the anti-collagenase antibody mainly composed of protein having the molecular weight of about 85 kd were observed in Escherichia coli JM109 containing pHUC14. In Escherichia coli JM109 containing pLCO-1, protein which reacted with the anti-collagenase antibody was also observed, although the amount thereof was very small. On the other hand, in Escherichia coli JM109 containing no recombinant plasmid used as a control, no protein which reacted with the anti-collagenase antibody was observed. These results show that protein which is an immunologically equivalent to Achromobacter collagenase is produced in Escherichia coli containing the recombinant plasmid pLCO-1 or pHUC14 and a large amount of the protein is produced by Escherichia coli containing the recombinant plasmid pHUC14. Example 6 Collagenase activity of transformant Collagenase activity of Escherichia coli containing Achromobacter collagenase gene was measured by using the synthetic substrate, 4-phenylazo-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-Pro-Leu-Gly-L-Pro-D-Arg·HCl (PZ-PLGPR). The measurement of collagenase activity and the definition of the unit of the activity (U) are disclosed in International Publication WO 84/02653. The sonicated cell solution was prepared according to the same manner as that disclosed in Example 5. As shown in Table 1, an collagenase activity was observed in Escherichia coli JM109 containing the plasmid pHUC14. No activity was observed in Escherichia coli JM109 containing the plasmid pLCO-1 or containing no plasmid. In veiw of these results, it is clear that the gene product in the recombinant Escherichia coli containing the collagenase gene has collagenase activty. Although no collagenase activity is observed in Escherichia coli containing the plasmid pLCO-1, this would be due to a low expression level. Collagenase activity of recombinant Escherichia coli Plasmid Collagenase activity no <5 pLCO-1 <5 pHUC14 189 Note) "Plasmid" means Escherichia coli JM109 containing the corresponding plasmid.

Claims: A gene encoding a collagenase derived from Vibrio alginolyticus represented by the restriction map as shown in Figure 1. A gene encoding a collagenase derived from Vibrio alginolyticus obtainable by the 2.7 kb Hpa I - Eco RV fragment shown in the restriction map of Figure 1. A gene encoding a collagenase derived from Vibrio alginolyticus of claim 2 which gene comprises a DNA sequence of the formula (III): wherein Z is absent or a DNA sequence of the formula (IV): A recombinant vector comprising a gene encoding a collagenase derived from Vibrio alginolyticus of claim 2. A host cell transformed with a plasmid comprising a gene encoding a collagenase derived from Vibrio alginolyticus of claim 2. A process for the production of a collagenase derived from Vibrio alginolyticus which comprises cultivating the host cells of claim 5 to express the collagenase, and recovering and purifying the expressed collagenase. A gene encoding an amino acid sequence of a collagenase comprising an amino acid sequence represented by the formula (I): wherein X is hydrogen or a polypeptide of the formula (II): wherein A is alanine, C is cysteine, D is aspartic acid, E is glutamic acid, F is phenylalanine, G is glycine, H is histidine, I is isoleucine, K is lysine, L is leucine, M is methionine, N is asparagine, P is proline, Q is glutamine, R is arginine, S is serine, T is threonine, V is valine, W is tryptophan and Y is tyrosine. A recombinant vector comprising a collagenase gene derived from Vibrio alginolyticus of claim 7. A host cell transformed with a plasmid comprising a collagenase gene derived from Vibrio alginolyticus of claim 7. A process for the production of a collagenase which comprises cultivating the host cells of claim 9 to produce the collagenase, and recovering the collagenase thus produced from the cells or culture solution. A process for the production of a collagenase derived from Vibrio alginolyticus which comprises inserting Bam HI linker into Hpa I site at Base No. 1213 on a DNA fragment of 7 kb composing the plasmid pLCO-1 of Escherichia coli JM 101 (FERM BP-3113) and inserting Sal I linker into Eco RV site at Base No. 3936 on the DNA fragment; cleaving said pLCO-1 containing the two linkers with Bam HI and Sal I to obtain a DNA fragment of 2.7 kb containing an entire collagenase gene; inserting said DNA fragment into Bam HI/ Sal I site of a vector to obtain a recombinant transforming Escherichia coli with said recombinant plasmid to obtain host cells; cultivating said host cells to produce the collagenase; and recovering the collagenase thus produced from the cells or culture solution.

Inventors: FUKUSHIMA JUN, MORIHARA KAZUYUKI, OKUDA KENJI, SHIBANO YUJI, FUKUSHIMA, JUN, MORIHARA, KAZUYUKI, OKUDA, KENJI, SHIBANO, YUJI
Applicants: SUNTORY LTD, SUNTORY LIMITED
Application year: 1990
Main classification: C12N15
IPC codes: C07K16, C12R1, C12N15, C12N1, C12N9