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Flavin reductases play a vital role in catalyzing the reduction of flavin through NADH or NADPH oxidation. The gene encoding flavin reductase from the thermophilic bacterium Geobacillus mahadii Geo-05 (GMHpaC) was cloned, overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS, and purified to homogeneity. The purified recombinant GMHpaC (Class II) contains chromogenic cofactors, evidenced by maximal absorbance peaks at 370 nm and 460 nm. GMHpaC stands out as the most thermostable and pH-tolerant flavin reductase reported to date, retaining up to 95 % catalytic activity after incubation at 70 °C for 30 min and maintaining over 80 % activity within a pH range of 2-12 for 30 min. Furthermore, GMHpaC's catalytic activity increases by 52 % with FMN as a co-factor compared to FAD and riboflavin. GMHpaC, coupled with 4-hydroxyphenylacetate-3-monooxygenase (GMHpaB) from G. mahadii Geo-05, enhances the hydroxylation of 4-hydroxyphenylacetate (HPA) by 85 %. The modeled structure of GMHpaC reveals relatively conserved flavin and NADH binding sites. Modeling and docking studies shed light on structural features and amino acid substitutions that determine GMHpaC's co-factor specificity. The remarkable thermostability, high catalytic activity, and general stability exhibited by GMHpaC position it as a promising enzyme candidate for various industrial applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The author declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The current research in the food industry regarding enzymatic modification to enhance the freeze-thaw (FT) stability of starch is limited. The present study aimed to investigate the FT stability of normal corn starch (NCS) modified using 1,4-α-glucan branching enzyme (GBE) derived from Geobacillus thermoglucosidans STB02. Comprehensive analyses, including syneresis, scanning electron microscopy, and low-field nuclear magnetic resonance, collectively demonstrated the enhanced FT stability of GBE-modified corn starch (GT-NCS-30) in comparison to its native form. Its syneresis was 66.4 % lower than that of NCS after three FT cycles. Notably, GBE treatment induced changes in the pasting properties and thermal resistance of corn starch, while simultaneously enhancing the mechanical strength of the starch gel. Moreover, X-ray diffractograms and microstructural assessments of freeze-thawed gels indicated that GBE treatment effectively hindered the association of corn starch molecules, particularly amylose retrogradation. The enhanced FT stability of GBE-modified starch can be attributed to alterations in the starch structure induced by GBE. This investigation establishes a foundation for further exploration into the influence of GBE treatment on the FT stability of starch and provides a theoretical basis for further research in this area., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Challenges in enzyme and product recovery are currently intriguing in modern biotechnology. Coping enzyme stability, shelf life and efficiency, nanomaterials-based immobilization were epitomized of industrial practice. Herein, a α-amylase from Geobacillus thermoleovorans was purified and bound effectively on to a modified 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)-Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticle. It was revealed that the carrier-bound enzyme catalysis (pH 8 and 60 °C) was significant in contrast to the free enzyme (pH 7.5 and 55 °C). Furthermore, Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ were shown to cause inhibitory effects in both enzyme states. Unlike chloroform, toluene, benzene, and butanol, minimal effects were observed with ethanol, acetone, and hexane. The bound enzyme retained 27.4 % of its initial activity after being stored for 36 days. In addition, the reusability of the bound enzyme showed a gradual decline in activity after the first cycle; however, after 13 cycles, its residual activity at 53 % was observed. These data proved significant enough to use this enzyme for industrial starch and analogous substrate bio-processing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Gurumurthy DM reports administrative support, equipment, drugs, or supplies, travel, and writing assistance were provided by Amity University Noida. Neelagund SE reports a relationship with Kuvempu University that includes: non-financial support. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cytochrome bd oxidase is a bacterial terminal oxygen reductase that was suggested to enable adaptation to different environments and to confer resistance to stress conditions. An electrocatalytic study of the cyt bd oxidases from Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum and Geobacillus thermodenitrificans gives evidence for a different reactivity towards oxygen. An inversion of the redox potential values of the three hemes is found when comparing the enzymes from different bacteria. This inversion can be correlated with different protonated glutamic acids as evidenced by reaction induced FTIR spectroscopy. The influence of the microenvironment of the hemes on the reactivity towards oxygen is discussed., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Superoxide dismutases are the enzymes involved in dismutation of superoxide radicals into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. The present work reports a thermostable Fe/Mn SOD of Geobacillus sp. strain PCH100 (GsSOD) isolated from glacial soil. Purified recombinant GsSOD is a dimeric protein of ~57 kDa that exhibited highest activity at a temperature of 10 °C and pH of 7.8. Maximum enzyme velocity and Michaelis constant of the GsSOD were 1098.90 units/mg and 0.62 μM, respectively. At 80 °C, thermal inactivation rate constant and half-life of GsSOD were 3.33 × 10 -3  min -1 and 208 min, respectively. Interestingly, GsSOD tolerated a temperature of 100 °C and 130 °C up to 15 min and 5 min, respectively. Circular dichroism and differential scanning calorimetry confirmed thermostable nature of GsSOD. Apoenzyme of GsSOD regained enzymatic activity in the presence of Fe 2+ and Mn 2+ as metal ion cofactors. GsSOD was stable under varying concentrations of chemicals, namely ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, potassium cyanide, hydrogen peroxide, chloroform-ethanol, 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)-dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate, Tween-20, Triton X-100, urea, and guanidine hydrochloride. The enzyme exhibited >70% activity in presence of 10 mM metal ions. Owing to its thermostable nature and resistance to chemical inhibitors, GsSOD is a potential enzyme for industrial applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Carbonic anhydrases (CA) are the most ubiquitous ancient zinc metalloenzymes known. Here we report the structural and functional analysis of a hypothetical protein GK2848 from Geobacillus kaustophilus. The analysis revealed that it belongs to the γ-class of CA (termed as Cag). Only a limited number of γ-class CA's have been characterized till date. Interestingly Cag contains magnesium at its active site instead of a traditional zinc ion. Based on the structural and sequence comparison with similar γ-CA's the putative active site residues of Cag were identified. This analysis revealed that an important catalytic residue and a proton shuttle residue (Glu62 and Glu84 respectively) of Cam (previously characterized γ-CA from Methanosarcina thermophila) are absent in Cag, however certain other active site residues are conserved both in Cag and Cam. This suggests that Cag uses a different set of residues for the reversible hydration of CO 2 to HCO 3 - when compared with Cam. Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) and 25 Mg and 67 Zn NMR studies on Cag and its mutants revealed that either Mg or Zn can occupy the active site which suggests the cambialistic nature of the enzyme., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this study lipolytic biocatalysts GD-95RM, GDEst-95 and GDEst-lip were immobilized by encapsulation in calcium alginate beads . All three immobilized biocatalysts demonstrated significantly increased thermal stability at 60-70 °C temperatures and the activity of GD-95RM lipase increased by 50% at 70-80 °C following the immobilization. Moreover, encapsulated GDEst-95 esterase retained higher than 50% lipolytic activity after 3 months of incubation with butanol (25%) and ethanol (50%); GDEst-lip enzyme possessed 50% activity after 2 months of treatment with ethanol (25%) and methanol (25%); and GD-95RM lipase displayed higher that 50% activity after two-week incubation with methanol (50%). All three immobilized enzymes displayed long-term storage capability (>50% activity) at least until 3 months at 4 °C. It was also detected that immobilized GD-95RM and GDEst-lip can perform flow hydrolysis of both avocado oil and p-NP dodecanoate in prototype packed-bed column reactor. The analysis of continuous transesterification of avocado or sunflower oil with ethanol or methanol as substrates confirmed that encapsulated GD-95RM and GDEst-lip enzymes is a useful approach to produce fatty acid alkyl esters., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The prospects of industrial uses of microbial enzymes have increased greatly during the 21st century. Fused lipolytic enzymes (where one or both fused domains possess lipolytic activity) is a rapidly growing group of industrial biocatalysts. However, the most effective fusion strategy, catalytic behavior of each domain and influence of added linkers on physicochemical and kinetic characteristics of such biocatalysts has not been yet explored. In this study the functionality of individual domains in fused lipolytic enzymes, while using GDEst-lip, GDLip-lip and GDEst-est enzymes as a model system, is analyzed for the first time. Analysis of mutant GDEst-lip, GDLip-lip and GDEst-est variants, where one domain is inactive, showed that both domains retained their activity, although the reduction in specific activity of individual domains has been detected. Moreover, experimental data proposed that the N-terminal domain mostly influenced the thermostability, while the C-terminal domain was responsible for thermal activity. GDEst-lip variants fused by using rigid (EAAELAAE) and flexible (GGSELSGG) linkers indicated that a unique restriction site or a rigid linker is the most preferable fusion strategy to develop new chimeric biocatalysts with domains of Geobacillus lipolytic enzymes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This work evaluates different dendrimer-silica supports for the immobilization of enzymes by multipoint covalent binding. Thermolysin was immobilized on two dendrimers (PAMAM and carbosilane) with two different generations (zero (G0) and first (G1)). Results were compared with a control, a silica support functionalized with a monofunctional molecule. Dendrimers increased the number of available sites to bind the enzyme. Despite the enzyme was immobilized on all supports, G0 dendrimers immobilized a 30% more enzyme than G1. Thermolysin immobilized on G0 dendrimer supports showed the highest activity and could be employed in three consecutive hydrolysis cycles. Optimal immobilization time was 1 h while optimal protein loading was 25 mg enzyme/100 mg support. Enzyme activity was promoted when using 5 mg of immobilized enzyme at 750 rpm, 60 °C, and 2 h of hydrolysis. Under these conditions, the activity of thermolysin increased up to the 78% of the free enzyme activity. Kinetics of the hydrolysis reaction using the immobilized thermolysin was also studied and compared with the obtained using the free thermolysin. The addition of ZnCl 2 and NaCl during the immobilization procedure increased thermolysin activity in the second (22% more) and in the third (14% more) hydrolysis clycles., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, the heterologous expression and biochemical characterization of a thermostable α-amylase from Geobacillus sp. GS33 was investigated. The recombinant α-amylase was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (λDE) and purified via anion exchange and size-exclusion chromatography. The purified α-amylase had a molecular weight of about 60 kDa, and was active in a broad range of pH 3-10 and temperature (40-90 °C) with maximum activity at pH 7-8 and 60 °C. The enzyme retained 50% residual activity at 65 °C, but only 20% at 85 °C after 16 h. At pH 9 and pH 7, the residual activity at 65 °C was 50% and 30%, respectively. The enzyme was remarkably activated by Co 2+ , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , PMSF, DTT, and Triton X-100, but partially inhibited by Cu 2+ , methanol, hexane, ethanol, acetone, SDS, and Tween 20. A molecular phylogeny analysis showed that the enzyme's amino acid sequence had the closest connection with an α-amylase from Geobacillus thermoleovorans subsp. stromboliensis nov. 3D-structure-based amino acid sequence alignments revealed that the three catalytic residues (D217, E246, D314) and the four Ca 2+ ion coordination residues (N143, E177, D186, H221) were conserved in α-amylase from Geobacillus sp. GS33. The temperature stability and neutral pH optimum suggest that the enzyme may be useful for industrial applications., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study three lipases GD-28, GD-95 and GD-66 (all 43 kDa in size), isolated from Geobacillus spp. were subjected to directed evolution experiments to yield a new synthetic lipolytic enzyme. This new lipase, obtained by DNA shuffling and epPCR, was named GDlip43 (also 43 kDa in size). It demonstrated increased thermoactivity, thermostability, an ability to hydrolyze short and long acyl chain p-NP esters and was activated by different organic solvents. Different activity of GDlip43 raised the hypothesis of new candidate amino acids which could be important for the activity of Geobacillus lipases. Based on the sequence alignment of parental and GDlip43 lipase, three candidate amino acids were selected. The importance of these amino acids, localized at positions 153, 154 and 247 (all of which are distant from the catalytic center of Geobacillus lipases) was investigated using site-directed mutagenesis. Directed evolution experiments also yielded another new lipase - GDlip30 (30 kDa in size). This low molecular mass derivative of GDlip43 had clearly detectable lipolytic activity (40 U/mg) and is the smallest currently known active Geobacillus lipase variant., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The enzyme Urocanate Hydratase (UH) participates in the catabolic pathway of L-histidine. Trypanosoma cruzi Urocanate Hydratase (TcUH) is identified as a therapeutic molecular target in the WHO/TDR Targets Database. We report the 3D structure determination and number of features of TcUH, and compared it to other few available bacterial UH structures. Each monomer presents two domains and one NAD + molecule. Superpositions revealed differences in the relative orientation of domains within monomers, such that TcUH monomer A resembles Urocanate Hydratase from Geobacillus kaustophilus (GkUH) (open conformation), while monomer C resembles Urocanate Hydratase from Pseudomonas putida (PpUH) and Urocanate Hydratase from Bacillus subtilis (BsUH) (closed conformations). We use the structure of TcUH to make considerations about 3 non-deleterious and 2 deleterious mutations found in human UHs: non-deleterious mutations could be accommodated without large displacements or interaction interruptions, whereas deleterious mutations in one case might disrupt an α-helix (as previously suggested) and in the other case, besides disrupting the enzyme interaction with the substrate, might interfere with interdomain movement., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Cyclomaltodextrinases show diverse hydrolyzing and/or transglycosylation activities against cyclodextrins, starch and pullulan. A gene annotated as cyclomaltodextrinase from Geobacillus thermopakistaniensis was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The gene product, CDase Gt , was purified and biochemically characterized. The recombinant enzyme exhibited highest activity with α-cyclodextrin at 55 °C and pH 6.0. Specific hydrolytic activities towards α-, β- and γ-cyclodextrin were 1200, 735 and 360 μmol min -1 mg -1 , respectively. To the best of our knowledge, the activity against α-cyclodextrin is the highest among the reported enzymes. Next to cyclodextrins, pullulan was the most preferred substrate with a specific activity of 105 μmol min -1 mg -1 . CDase Gt was capable of hydrolysis of maltotriose and acarbose as well as transglycosylation of their hydrolytic products. At 65 °C, there was no significant loss in enzyme activity even after overnight incubation. Activity of CDase Gt was not metal ions dependent, however, the presence of Mn 2+ significantly enhanced the α-CDase activity. EDTA had no significant effect on the CDase Gt activity, however, it enhanced the thermostability of the enzyme. CDase Gt existed in monomeric as well as dimeric form in solution. Dimeric form is more active compared to the monomeric one. Equilibrium between the two forms seems to be concentration dependent., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

1,4-α-Glucan branching enzyme (GBE, EC. 2.4.1.18), which plays a key role in the synthesis of starch and glycogen, has been overexpressed in E. coli as an intracellular enzyme by many researchers. In this study, it was found that the GBEs from Geobacillus thermoglucosidans and Rhodothermus obamensis were secreted into the culture medium when they were expressed separately, in E. coli. This occurred despite the absence of any signal peptide. In fact, although bioinformatics tools predicted that both of these proteins would localize to the cytoplasm, a high level of expression and non-classical secretion was found to achieve without addition of the inducer isopropyl β-d-thiogalactopyranoside. Further experiments revealed that secretion was a two-step process that occurred via the periplasmic space. Results excluded the involvement of the Sec pathway or the TAT pathway. Instead, the findings indicated a relationship between cell membrane integrity and the secretion of the two GBEs, and suggested that their N-termini play an essential role in their expression and secretion., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Thermo-alkalophilic bacterium, Geobacillus thermoleovorans secrets many enzymes including a 43 kDa extracellular lipase. Significant thermostability, organic solvent stability and wide substrate preferences for hydrolysis drew our attention to solve its structure by crystallography. The structure was solved by molecular replacement method and refined up to 2.14 Å resolution. Structure of the lipase showed an alpha-beta fold with 19 α-helices and 10 β-sheets. The active site remains covered by a lid. One calcium and one zinc atom was found in the crystal. The structure showed a major difference (rmsd 5.6 Å) from its closest homolog in the amino acid region 191 to 203. Thermal unfolding of the lipase showed that the lipase is highly stable with T m of 76 °C. 13 C NMR spectra of products upon triglyceride hydrolysate revealed that the lipase hydrolyses at both sn-1 and sn-2 positions with equal efficiency., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A putative laccase-like gene, GPPO, encoding a protein of 17.2 kDa and belonging to the multicopper oxidase family, was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli cells. The purified recombinant protein GPPO is homodecameric protein with a molecular weight of 171.6 kDa. GPPO was not detected the ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV/Vis) spectrum of typical laccases. Co 2+ or Cu 2+ was essential for substrate oxidation of GPPO, and the enzyme contained 1 mol of Co or Cu per mole of protein. The optimum pH required for the oxidation of 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) and 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (DMP) was 4.5 and 5.5, respectively, and the optimum temperature was 75 °C. The half-life of heat inactivation was about 8 min at 80 °C and 90 min at 90 °C, in the presence of Cu 2+ and Co 2+ , respectively. The catalytic efficiency (k cat /K m ) of GPPO containing Co 2+ was 68 times higher than that of GPPO containing Cu 2+ . The enzyme reaction was inhibited by conventional inhibitors of laccase like metal chelators and thiol compounds. GPPO incubated with Cu 2+ or Co 2+ for 48 h decolorizes 45% or 47% of Nile blue, respectively. This is the first report of a novel thermostable polyphenol oxidase that shows the cobalt-dependent laccase activity and dye decolorization ability., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this study, isolation, conventional and molecular characterizations of ten thermophilic bacteria from Rize/Ayder were carried out. Xylanase from Geobacillus galactosidasius BS61 (GenBank number: KX447660) was purified by acetone precipitation, Diethylaminoethyl-cellulose and Sephadex G-100 chromatographies. The xylanase of G. galactosidasius BS61 in clarifying fruit juice was also investigated. Enzyme was purified 29.80-fold with 75.18% yield; and molecular weight was determined as 78.15 kDa. The optimum temperature of xylanase was 60 °C. The enzyme activity was maintained fully after 24 h and over 50% after 168 h at pH 4.0-10.0, while optimum pH was 7.0. K m and V max for beech wood xylan were measured as 3.18 mg mL -1 , 123 U mg protein -1 . In addition, Ca 2+ , Na + , Al 3+ , Zn 2+ , Cd 2+ , Mg 2+ , Ni 2+ , Cu 2+ had decreasing effect on enzyme activity, while enzyme activity had been protected against anions, especially HSO 3- and HPO 4 2- stimulated enzyme activity. Xylanase applications (with 15 U/mL enzyme activity) in orange and pomegranate juices were increased; and the sugar and turbidity amounts were reduced 17.36% ± 1.18 and 30.52 ± 1.23, respectively. These results indicated that the xylanase of G. galactosidasius BS61 has biotechnological potential in juice clarification due to its stability against metal ions, chemicals and high pH-values., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Lipases are used as biocatalysts in industrial processes mainly because of their stability at broad temperature and pH range, resistance to organic solvents and wide spectrum of substrates. The usage of several lipolytic domains, each with different activity and resistance profiles, enables both the flexibility and efficiency of industrial processes. In this study, GD-95 and GD-66 lipases produced by Geobacillus sp. 95 and Geobacillus sp. 66, respectively, were used as fusion partners to create a new fused lipolytic enzyme LipGD95-GD66. Chimeric LipGD95-GD66 lipase displayed tenfold increase in activity (200 U/mg) compared to parental GD-66 lipase, improved V max (10 μmol/min mg -1 ) and catalytic efficiency (2 ∗ 10 5  min -1  mM -1 ) for p-NP palmitate as a substrate and increased activity at 70-75 °C compared to both parental lipases. All three lipases also retained >50% of their lipolytic activity after incubation with methanol, n-hexane, ethanol and DMF for longer than three weeks, highlighting a great prospect for application in industrial processes. Moreover, transesterification results revealed the capability of parental GD-95 lipase to be the most promising biocatalyst for production of methyl and ethyl esters through eco-friendly transesterification using argan oil and ethanol/methanol as acceptors of acyl group., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study graphene oxide (GO), carbon quantum dots (CQD) and carbon nanoonions (CNO) have been characterized and applied for the first time as a matrix for recombinant adenylate kinase (AK, EC 2.7.4.3) immobilization. AK is an enzyme fulfilling a key role in metabolic processes. This phosphotransferase catalyzes the interconversion of adenine nucleotides (ATP, ADP and AMP) and thereby participates in nucleotide homeostasis, monitors a cellular energy charge as well as acts as a component of purinergic signaling system. The AK activity in all obtained biocatalytic systems was higher as compared to the free enzyme. We have found that the immobilization on carbon nanostructures increased both activity and stability of AK. Moreover, the biocatalytic systems consisting of AK immobilized on carbon nanostructures can be easily and efficiently lyophilized without risk of desorption or decrease in the catalytic activity of the investigated enzyme. The positive action of AK-GO biocatalytic system in maintaining the nucleotide balance in in vitro cell culture was proved., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Enzymes activity and stability at extreme temperature can be intensified by regularly applying protein engineering. In the present study, two amino acids were perceived to mark the temperature dependability of xylanase from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans C5. Six mutants of G. thermodenitrificans C5 were built through site-directed mutagenesis by interchanging the residue with proline and glutamic acid (R81P, H82E, W185P, D186E, double mutant W185P/D186E and triple mutant H82E/W185P/D186E). Both mutant and wild type enzymes were quantified in host E. coli BL21. In comparison to wild type, the temperature was enhanced by 4 °C, 5 °C and 11 °C in H82E, W185P/D186E and H82E/W185P/D186E mutant models, respectively. The mutant H82E and the combined substitutions (H82E/W185P/D186E) showed the most pronounced shifts in their half-lives for thermal inactivation. Half-life was increased 13 times at 60 °C, 15 times at 65 °C, 9 times at 70 °C and 5 times at 75 °C by H82E/W185P/D186E mutant. Mutations in xylanase enzyme causes rigidification of essential chain and filling of groove that leads to stabilization of mutants and finally resulted into enhancement in their thermostability., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Steady and dynamic shear measurements were used to investigate the rheological properties of cassava starches modified using the 1,4-α-glucan branching enzyme (GBE) from Geobacillus thermoglucosidans STB02. GBE treatment lowered the hysteresis loop areas, the activation energy (E a ) values and the parameters in rheological models of cassava starch pastes. Moreover, GBE treatment increased its storage (G') and loss (G″) moduli, and decreased their tan δ (ratio of G″/G') values and frequency-dependencies. Scanning electron microscopic studies showed the selective and particular attack of GBE on starch granules, and X-ray diffraction analyses showed that GBE treatment produces significant structural changes in amylose and amylopectin. These changes demonstrate that GBE modification produces cassava starch with a more structured network and improved stability towards mechanical processing. Differential scanning calorimetric analysis and temperature sweeps indicated greater resistance to granule rupture, higher gel rigidity, and a large decrease in the rate of initial conformational ordering with increasing GBE treatment time. Pronounced changes in rheological parameters revealed that GBE modification enhances the stability of cassava starch and its applicability in the food processing industry., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Metal ions are essential for the performance of metal-dependent proteins and are known to be important for thermophilic proteins containing a large number of charged residues. The performance of thermophilic proteins may be influenced by metal ions through electrostatic interactions between the metal ions and charged residues. In this study, we investigated the effects of metal ions and glycerol on the activity and stability of the thermophilic 1,4-α-glucan branching enzyme (abbreviated GBE; EC 2.4.1.18) from G. thermoglucosidasius STB02. The results indicate that K + or Na + enhance the performance of GBE, and that the addition of glycerol further increases the thermostability of GBE. The effects of K + or Na + with glycerol on the structure of GBE were further investigated using intrinsic fluorescence spectra and far-UV circular dichroism spectra. The results show that more secondary structural elements are preserved by the addition of K + or Na + in the presence of glycerol. The improved maintenance of GBE structural elements after incubation may arise from electrostatic interactions introduced by the added salt, and glycerol provides a hydrophobic environment that strengthens these electrostatic contacts. This provides a useful perspective for understanding the strategy of thermophilic adaptation used by proteins with plenty of charged residues., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

1,4-α-Glucan branching enzyme (GBE) catalyzes the formation of α-1,6 branch points in starch or glycogen by hydrolyzing α-1,4-glucosidic linkages and then synthesizing α-1,6-glucosidic linkages. In the GBE from Geobacillus thermoglucosidans STB02, alanine 310 (Ala310) is located in conserved region II. An analysis of the amino acid sequence shows that Ala310 is highly conserved in the prokaryotic GBE subfamily. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to determine the function of Ala310 in GBE. Replacement of Ala310 with glycine, aspartate, asparagine, isoleucine, glutamate, or glutamine resulted in mutant enzymes with less than 10% to 25% of wild-type activity when amylopectin or amylose was used as substrate. Studies using high-performance anion exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD) showed that A310G mutant had no effect on the transfer pattern, but the branching activity had been repressed to a large extent. Kinetic analysis also showed that mutations of Ala310 had an effect on the K M value that changed the preferred substrate from amylopectin to amylose. These results show that Ala310 is important for the catalytic activity of the GBE from G. thermoglucosidans STB02., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Glucose isomerase (GI) is used in vitro to convert d-glucose to d-fructose, which is capable of commercial producing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). To manufacture HFCS at elevated temperature and reduce the cost of enriching syrups, novel refractory GIs from Thermoanaerobacterium xylanolyticum (TxGI), Thermus oshimai (ToGI), Geobacillus thermocatenulatus (GtGI) and Thermoanaerobacter siderophilus (TsGI) were screened via genome mining approach. The enzymatic characteristics research showed that ToGI had higher catalytic efficiency and superior thermostability toward d-glucose among the screened GIs. Its optimum temperature reached 95°C and could retain more than 80% of initial activity in the presence of 20mM Mn 2+ at 85°C for 48h. The K m and k cat /K m values for ToGI were 81.46mM and 21.77min -1 mM -1 , respectively. Furthermore, the maximum conversion yield of 400g/L d-glucose to d-fructose at 85°C was 52.16%. Considering its excellent high thermostability and ameliorable application performance, ToGI might be promising for realization of future industrial production of HFCS at elevated temperature., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Waxy corn starch was modified with the 1,4-α-glucan branching enzyme (GBE) from Geobacillus thermoglucosidans STB02. Incubating waxy corn starch with GBE increased the number of α-1,6 branch points and reduced the average chain length. Enzymatic modification also decreased the breakdown and setback values of Brabender viscosity curves, indicating that the modified starch had higher paste stability. Preheating the starch at 65°C for 30min before incubation with GBE could promote enzymatic modification of starch. Linear regression was used to describe the relationships between starch structure and its pasting and thermal properties. The setback value showed a negative linear correlation with the α-1,6 branch point content (R 2 =0.9824) and a positive linear correlation with the average chain length (R 2 =0.8954). Meanwhile, the gelatinization enthalpy was also linearly correlated to the α-1,6 branch point content (R 2 =0.9326) and the average chain length (R 2 =0.8567). These insights provide a useful reference for food processors., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Maltogenic amylases (MAases, EC 3.2.1.133) have been gotten much attention due to their various applications in industry and commercial processes. MAases belong to subfamily 20 of glycoside hydrolase family 13 (NPase or CDases subfamily) and they have important differences with other members of the family. This enzyme consists of two subunits which form two active sites in the dimer form by binding of the central domain of each subunit to the N domain of the next one (domain-swapping dimeric structure). Allosterism is a possible way of regulating enzymatic activity and no evidence has been found regarding to the cooperativity and correlation between MAases subunits, therefore in this study the allosteric behavior of MAases from a native strain (Geobacillus sp. Gh6) was investigated. Unlike other members of α-amylase family, MAases showed positive cooperativity between their subunits and the enzyme exhibited sigmoidal nature towards all three cyclodextrin (CD) substrates with a Hill constant (nH) value equal to 2, 1.6 and 1.1 for α-CD, β-CD and γ-CD, respectively. On further analysis, the effect of glucose and maltose as MAases allosteric effectors in the presence of β-CD substrate showed that these two effectors had a biphasic effect; while they stimulated the enzyme activity at low concentrations (with a decrease in Hill constant), these metabolites acted as allosteric inhibitors at higher concentrations. Due to the key role of MAases in carbohydrate metabolization, an efficient regulating system for this enzyme is required. In this experiment, for the first time the allosteric properties of MAases were observed and investigated., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Site-directed mutagenesis of the oxyanion-containing amino acid Q114 in the recombinant thermophilic T1 lipase previously isolated from Geobacillus zalihae was performed to elucidate its role in the enzyme's enantioselectivity and reactivity. Substitution of Q114 with a hydrophobic methionine to yield mutant Q114M increased enantioselectivity (3.2-fold) and marginally improved reactivity (1.4-fold) of the lipase in catalysing esterification of ibuprofen with oleyl alcohol. The improved catalytic efficiency of Q114L was concomitant with reduced flexibility in the active site while the decreased enantioselectivity of Q114L could be directly attributed to diminished electrostatic repulsion of the substrate carboxylate ion that rendered partial loss in steric hindrance and thus enantioselectivity. The highest E-values for both Q114L (E-value 14.6) and Q114M (E-value 48.5) mutant lipases were attained at 50°C, after 12-16h, with a molar ratio of oleyl alcohol to ibuprofen of 1.5:1 and at 2.0% (w/v) enzyme load without addition of molecular sieves. Pertinently, site-directed mutagenesis on the Q114 oxyanion of T1 resulted in improved enantioselectivity and such approach may be applicable to other lipases of the same family. We demonstrated that electrostatic repulsion phenomena could affect flexibility/rigidity of the enzyme-substrate complex, aspects vital for enzyme activity and enantioselectivity of T1., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Efficient utilization of hemicellulose entails high catalytic capacity containing xylanases. In this study, proline rich sequence was fused together with a C-terminal of xylanase gene from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans C5 and designated as GthC5ProXyl. Both GthC5Xyl and GthC5ProXyl were expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 host in order to determine effect of this modification. The C-terminal oligopeptide had noteworthy effects and instantaneously extended the optimal temperature and pH ranges and progressed the specific activity of GthC5Xyl. Compared with GthC5Xyl, GthC5ProXyl revealed improved specific activity, a higher temperature (70°C versus 60°C) and pH (8 versus 6) optimum, with broad ranges of temperature and pH (60-80°C and 6.0-9.0 versus 40-60°C and 5.0-8.0, respectively). The modified enzyme retained more than 80% activity after incubating in xylan for 3h at 80°C as compared to wild -type with only 45% residual activity. Our study demonstrated that proper introduction of proline residues on C-terminal surface of xylanase family might be very effective in improvement of enzyme thermostability. Moreover, this study reveals an engineering strategy to improve the catalytic performance of enzymes., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

During DNA replication, bacterial helicase is recruited as a complex in association with loader proteins to unwind the parental duplex. Previous structural studies have reported saturated 6:6 helicase-loader complexes with different conformations. However, structural information on the sub-stoichiometric conformations of these previously-documented helicase-loader complexes remains elusive. Here, with the aid of single particle electron-microscopy (EM) image reconstruction, we present the Geobacillus kaustophilus HTA426 helicase-loader (DnaC-DnaI) complex with a 6:2 binding stoichiometry in the presence of ATPγS. In the 19 Å resolution EM map, the undistorted and unopened helicase ring holds a robust loader density above the C-terminal RecA-like domain. Meanwhile, the path of the central DNA binding channel appears to be obstructed by the reconstructed loader density, implying its potential role as a checkpoint conformation to prevent the loading of immature complex onto DNA. Our data also reveals that the bound nucleotides and the consequently induced conformational changes in the helicase hexamer are essential for active association with loader proteins. These observations provide fundamental insights into the formation of the helicase-loader complex in bacteria that regulates the DNA replication process., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Thermophilic l-arabinose isomerase (AI), which catalyzes the interconversion of l-arabinose and l-ribulose, can be used to produce d-tagatose, a sugar substitute, from d-galactose. Unlike mesophilic AIs, thermophilic AIs are highly dependent on divalent metal ions for their catalytic activity and thermostability at elevated temperatures. However, the molecular basis underlying the substrate preferences and metal requirements of multimeric AIs remains unclear. Here we report the first crystal structure of the apo and holo forms of thermophilic Geobacillus kaustophilus AI (GKAI) in hexamer form. The structures, including those of GKAI in complex with l-arabitol, and biochemical analyses revealed not only how the substrate-binding site of GKAI is formed through displacement of residues at the intersubunit interface when it is bound to Mn(2+), but also revealed the water-mediated H-bonding networks that contribute to the structural integrity of GKAI during catalysis. These observations suggest metal-mediated isomerization reactions brought about by intersubunit interactions at elevated temperatures are responsible for the distinct active site features that promote the substrate specificity and thermostability of thermophilic AIs., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Maltogenic amylase of Geobacillus thermoleovorans (Gt-MamyIII), which has the highest thermostability among bacterial maltogenic amylases, has been used as a model enzyme to understand the role of networked salt bridges in thermoadaptation. The role of intra-chain cross-domain salt bridge networks in the thermostabilization of maltogenic amylase of G. thermoleovorans was confirmed by site-directed mutagenesis and CD analysis. The amino acid pairs in seven salt bridges have been mutated singly and pair-wise, and their free energy of thermal inactivation has been calculated. Among seven, single and double mutations in the amino acids corresponding to four salt bridges (lys306.glu336, arg403.asp65, arg497.glu523 and lys524.glu523) decrease T1/2 and Tm of Gt-MamyIII significantly. Moreover, glu523 forms networked salt bridges with arg497 and lys524. OE1 of glu523 forms electrostatic interactions with NH1 of arg497, NH2 of arg497 and NZ of lys524 at a distance of 2.33, 2.02 and 0.33Å, respectively. The mutations in three buried amino acids led to a decline in T1/2 and Tm. The buried as well as networked cross-domain salt bridges thus appear to play a significant role in the thermostabilization of Gt-MamyIII. The salt bridges lys306.glu336 and arg403.asp65, which are isolated and partially accessible, play a minor role in its thermostabilization., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The far-UV CD spectroscopic analysis of the secondary structure in the temperature range between 30 and 90°C revealed a compact and thermally stable structure of C-terminal truncated amylopullulanase of Geobacillus thermoleovorans NP33 (gt-apuΔC) with a higher melting temperature [58°C] than G. thermoleovorans NP33 amylopullulanase (gt-apu) [50°C] and the N-terminal truncated amylopullulanase from G. thermoleovorans NP33 (gt-apuΔN) [55°C]. A significant decline in random coils in gt-apuΔC and gt-apuΔN suggested an improvement in conformational stability, and thus, an enhancement in their thermal stability. The improvement in the thermostability of gt-apuΔC was corroborated by the thermodynamic parameters for enzyme inactivation. The Trp fluorescence emission (335 nm) and the acrylamide quenching constant (22.69 M(-1)) of gt-apuΔC indicated that the C-terminal truncation increases the conformational stability of the protein with the deeply buried tryptophan residues. The 8-Anilino Naphthalene Sulfonic acid (ANS) fluorescence experiments indicated the unfolding of gt-apu to expose its hydrophobic surface to a greater extent than the gt-apuΔC and gt-apuΔN., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Microbial xylanases, specially endo-β-1,4-xylanase catalyzes the hydrolysis of xylan, is considered one of the most significant hydrolases. It has numerous applications but most extensively is utilized in paper and pulp industry as a bio-bleaching agent. Immobilization technique is comprehensively studied with the expectation of modifying and improving enzyme stability and characteristics for commercial purposes. Currently, matrix entrapment technique is applied to immobilize endo-β-1,4-xylanase within agar-agar gel beads produced by Geobacillus stearothermophilus KIBGE-IB29. Maximal enzyme immobilization yield was achieved at 2.5% of agar-agar concentration. Optimized conditions demonstrated an increase in the optimal reaction time from 05 min to 30 min and incubation temperature from 50 °C to 60 °C with reference to free enzyme whereas; no effect was observed for optimum pH. Entrapment technique uniquely changed the kinetic parameters of immobilized endo-β-1,4-xylanase (Km: 0.5074 mg min(-1) to 0.5230 mg min(-1) and Vmax: 4773 U min(-1) to 968 U min(-1)) as compared to free enzyme. However, immobilized enzyme displayed broad thermal stability and retained 79.0% of its initial activity at 80 °C up to 30 min whereas; free enzyme completely lost its activity at this temperature. With respect to economic feasibility, the immobilized enzyme showed impressive recycling efficiency up to six reaction cycles., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The gene encoding a maltogenic amylase (MAase) from a newly isolated strain of thermophilic Geobacillus has been isolated, cloned and expressed. Following purification, biochemical and structural characterization have been performed. The enzyme exhibited maximal activity at a broad temperature range between 55 and 65 °C, clearly higher than that of other dimeric MAses. The optimum pH was 6.0 and catalytic activity increased by of Li(+) and K(+). A noticeable preference was demonstrated for α-, β- and γ-cyclodextrin (CD) compared to polymeric substrates (amylose, amylopectin, glycogen and starch) possibly due to steric interference. The affinity for CD substrates increased in the order of γ-CD>β-CD>α-CD, but k(cat)/K(m) increased as α-CD>β-CD>γ-CD, implying that increased substrate specificities are mainly attribute to kcat. Thermodynamic analysis of the activation process showed that improved activity (decrease in ΔG(#)) is accompanied by increases in activation entropy (ΔS(#)) for aforementioned substrates. Molecular docking on the binding interactions between substrates and active site residues revealed a considerably higher accessible surface area for the active site residues in the presence of α-CD than β-CD, indicating that interactions in the transition state are stronger in the presence of α-CD. This result explains the increased ΔH(#) of the activation process and increased K(m) of the enzyme in the presence of α-CD, compared to that of β-CD. This study, which presents the first detailed comparative analysis on the substrate preference of dimeric MAases for different substrates, may shed some lights into the molecular mechanism of these enzymes., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A truncated form of an α-amylase, GTA, from thermophilic Geobacillus thermoleovorans CCB_US3_UF5 was biochemically and structurally characterized. The recombinant GTA, which lacked both the N- and C-terminal transmembrane regions, functioned optimally at 70°C and pH 6.0. While enzyme activity was not enhanced by the addition of CaCl2, GTA's thermostability was significantly improved in the presence of CaCl2. The structure, in complex with an acarbose-derived pseudo-hexasaccharide, consists of the typical three domains and binds one Ca(2+) ion. This Ca(2+) ion was strongly bound and not chelated by EDTA. A predicted second Ca(2+)-binding site, however, was disordered. With limited subsites, two novel substrate-binding residues, Y147 and Y182, may help increase substrate affinity. No distinct starch-binding domain is present, although two regions rich in aromatic residues have been observed. GTA, with a smaller domain B and several shorter loops compared to other α-amylases, has one of the most compact α-amylase folds that may contribute greatly to its tight Ca(2+) binding and thermostability., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

To develop a robust whole-cell biocatalyst that works well at moderately high temperature (40-50°C) with organic solvents, a thermostable lipase from Geobacillus thermocatenulatus (BTL2) was introduced into an Aspergillus oryzae whole-cell biocatalyst. The lipase-hydrolytic activity of the immobilized A. oryzae (r-BTL) was highest at 50°C and was maintained even after an incubation of 24-h at 60°C. In addition, r-BTL was highly tolerant to 30% (v/v) organic solvents (dimethyl carbonate, ethanol, methanol, 2-propanol or acetone). The attractive characteristics of r-BTL also worked efficiently on palm oil methanolysis, resulting in a nearly 100% conversion at elevated temperature from 40 to 50°C. Moreover, r-BTL catalyzed methanolysis at a high methanol concentration without a significant loss of lipase activity. In particular, when 2 molar equivalents of methanol were added 2 times, a methyl ester content of more than 90% was achieved; the yield was higher than those of conventional whole-cell biocatalyst and commercial Candida antarctica lipase (Novozym 435). On the basis of the results regarding the excellent lipase characteristics and efficient biodiesel production, the developed whole-cell biocatalyst would be a promising biocatalyst in a broad range of applications including biodiesel production., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Thermoalkalophilic esterase enzyme from Balçova (Agamemnon) geothermal site were aimed to be immobilized effectively via a simple and cost-effective protocol in silicate coated Calcium alginate (Ca-alginate) beads by entrapment. The optimal immobilization conditions of enzyme in Ca-alginate beads were investigated and obtained with 2% alginate using 0.5mg/ml enzyme and 0.7 M CaCl(2) solution. In order to prevent enzyme from leaking out of the gel beads, Ca-alginate beads were then coated with silicate. Enzyme loading efficiency and immobilization yield for silicate coated beads was determined as 98.1% and 71.27%, respectively and compared with non-coated ones which were 68.5% and 45.80%, respectively. Surface morphologies, structure and elemental analysis of both silicate coated and non-coated alginate beads were also compared using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) equipped with Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Moreover, silicate coated alginate beads enhanced reusability of esterase in continuous processes compared to non-coated beads. The hydrolytic properties of free and immobilized enzyme in terms of storage and thermal stability as well as the effects of the temperature and pH were determined. It was observed that operational, thermal and storage stabilities of the esterase were increased with immobilization., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The medium optimization for the production of the Geobacillus thermoleovorans CCR11 thermoalkalophilic lipase was carried out in shake flask cultures using safflower high oleic oil. In the first step of optimization, a two level fractional factorial design allowed the identification of the concentration of nutrient broth and temperature as the main variables significantly affecting lipase production (P<0.05). In a second step, a D-optimal design was applied to determine the variables optimal values, defined as those yielding maximal lipase production in shaken flasks, thus demonstrating that the optimal concentration of nutrient broth was 3.8 g/l and the optimal culture temperature was 39.5°C. The model was experimentally validated, yielding a lipase production of 2283.70 ± 118.36 U/mL which represents a 6.7-fold increase in comparison to the non-optimized medium., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Lipase from Geobacillus thermocatenulatus (BTL2) was immobilized in two different matrixes. In one derivative, the enzyme was immobilized on agarose activated with cyanogen bromide (CNBr-BTL2) via its most reactive superficial amino group, whereas the other derivative was covalently immobilized on glyoxyl agarose supports (Gx-BTL2). The latter immobilization protocol leads to intense multipoint covalent attachment between the lysine richest region of enzyme and the glyoxyl groups on the support surface. The resulted solid derivatives were unfolded by incubation under high concentrations of guanidine and then resuspended in aqueous media under different experimental conditions. In both CNBr-BTL2 and Gx-BTL2 derivatives, the oxidation of Cys residues during the unfolding/refolding processes led to inefficient folding for the enzyme because only 25-30% of its initial activity was recovered after 3h in refolding conditions. Dithiothreitol (DTT), a very mild reducing agent, prevented Cys oxidation during the unfolding/refolding process, greatly improving activity recovery in the refolded forms. In parallel, other variables such as pH, buffer composition and the presence of polymers and other additives, had different effects on refolding efficiencies and refolding rates for both derivatives. In the case of solid derivatives of BTL2 immobilized on CNBr-agarose, the surface's chemistry was crucial to guarantee an optimal protein refolding. In this way, uncharged protein vicinities resulted in better refolding efficiencies than those charged ones., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A thermophilic and amylolytic bacterium (LH8) was isolated from the hot spring of Larijan in Iran at 65 degrees C. Identification of strain LH8 by 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that LH8 strain belongs to the Geobacillus sp. with 99% sequence similarity with the 16S rDNA of Geobacillus thermodenitrificans. A new alpha-amylase (GA) was extracted from this strain and purified by ion-exchange chromatography. SDS-PAGE showed a single band with an apparent molecular mass of 52kDa. The optimum temperature and pH were 80 degrees C and 5-7, respectively. In the presence of Mn2+, Ca2+, K+, Cr3+ and Al3+, the enzyme activity was stimulated while Mg2+, Ba2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Fe3+, Cu2+ and EDTA reduced the activity. The K(m) and V(max) values for starch were 3 mg ml(-1) and 6.5 micromol min(-1), respectively. The gene encoding alpha-amylase was isolated and the amino acid sequence was deduced. Comparison of GA and other alpha-amylase amino acid sequences suggested that GA has conserved regions that were previously identified in alpha-amylase family but GA exhibited some substitutions in the sequence. Its phytate resistant is an important property of this enzyme. 5 and 10 mM phytic acid did not inhibit this enzyme. Therefore, features of phytate resistant alpha-amylase from Geobacillus sp. LH8 are discussed., (Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An extremely thermophilic alkane-degrading bacterium, strain MH-1, was isolated from the deep subterranean petroleum reservoir in Shengli oil field, PR China. Based on its physiological characteristics and analysis of its 16S rRNA gene sequence, strain MH-1 was identified as Geobacillus stearothermophilus. Strain MH-1 was able to grow at temperatures ranging from 50 to 72 degrees C and effectively degraded hexadecane as the sole carbon source at 70 degrees C. Strain MH-1 degraded alkanes with different length chains (C(12)-C(31)) in crude oil, but it preferentially degraded middle chain-alkanes. The alkane hydroxylase system of G. stearothermophilus MH-1 was characterized. It contained at least three alkane monooxygenase gene homologs (alkB-geo1, alkB-geo4, and alkB-geo6). The AlkB-geo6 cluster, which had a high sequence similarity to the alkB2 cluster of Rhodococcus strains NRRL B-16531 and Q15, contained alkB-geo6, two rubredoxins and a putative transcriptional regulatory protein.