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The chitinolytic bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila strain SUWA-9, which was isolated from freshwater in Lake Suwa (Nagano Prefecture, Japan), produced several kinds of chitin-degrading enzymes. A gene coding for an endo-type chitinase (chiA) was isolated from SUWA-9. The chiA ORF encodes a polypeptide of 865 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 91.6 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence showed high similarity to those of bacterial chitinases classified into family 18 of glycosyl hydrolases. chiA was expressed in Escherichia coli and the recombinant chitinase (ChiA) was purified and examined. The enzyme hydrolyzed N-acetylchitooligomers from trimer to pentamer and produced monomer and dimer as a final product. It also reacted toward colloidal chitin and chitosan with a low degree of deacetylation. When cells of SUWA-9 were grown in the presence of colloidal chitin, a 60 kDa-truncated form of ChiA that had lost the C-terminal chitin-binding domain was secreted.

A chitinolytic bacterium was isolated from Lake Suwa and identified as Aeromonas hydrophila strain SUWA-9. The strain grew well on a synthetic medium containing colloidal chitin as sole carbon source. Chitin-degrading activity was induced by colloidal chitin or N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). Most of the activity, however, was not detected in culture fluid but was associated with cells. A beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase was purified after it was solubilized from cells by sonication. The purified enzyme hydrolyzed N-acetylchitooligomers from dimer to pentamer and produced GlcNAc as a final product. The enzyme also hydrolyzed synthetic substrates such as p-nitrophenyl (pNP)-N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminide and pNP-N-acetyl-beta-D-galactosaminide. A gene coding for the purified beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase was isolated. The ORF identified is 2661 nucleotides long and encodes a precursor protein of 887 amino acids including a signal peptide of 22 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence deduced showed a high similarity to those of bacterial beta-N-acetylhexosaminidases classified in family 20 of glycosyl hydrolases.

A gene (cob) conferring red fluorescence on Escherichia coli cells was isolated from an environmental DNA library constructed from soil bacteria. The nucleotide sequence showed a single open reading frame (ORF) encoding a polypeptide of 257 amino acid residues responsible for the red fluorescence. The deduced amino acid sequence of the ORF showed significant similarity (less than 75% identity) to uroporphyrinogen III methyltransferases from various bacteria. Cell extracts from the E. coli transformant had a spectrum pattern of fluorescence corresponding to trimethylpyrrocorphin or sirohydrochlorin that was absent in the control cells harboring the vector alone. Expression of the cob gene in the fungus Fusarium oxysporum conferred red fluorescence on the host cells, indicating that it is a promising transcriptional reporter in fungi as well as bacteria.

A gene coding for a second beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase (nagB) was isolated from the chitinolytic bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila strain SUWA-9. The nagB open reading frame encoded a polypeptide of 618 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 68.8 kDa. It did not contain a sequence characteristic of a signal peptide at the N-terminus. The deduced amino acid sequence showed high similarity to those of bacterial beta-N-acetylhexosaminidases classified into family 20 of glycosyl hydrolases. The nagB gene was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli, and the recombinant protein hydrolyzed N-acetylchitooligomers from dimer to hexamer and produced monomer as a final product. Reverse transcription-mediated PCR (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that nagB was transcribed when SUWA-9 cells were grown in the presence of colloidal chitin. In the upstream of the nagB gene, three genes, coding for putative N-acetylglucosamine kinase, beta-glucosidase, and ATP-binding protein of ABC-type transporter, were identified, and these genes likely to constitute an operon.