Cold adaptation of enzymes: Structural, kinetic and microcalorimetric characterizations of an aminopeptidase from the Arctic psychrophile Colwellia psychrerythraea and of human leukotriene A4 hydrolase

The relationships between structure, activity, stability and flexibility of a cold-adapted aminopeptidase produced by a psychrophilic marine bacterium have been investigated in comparison with a mesophilic structural and functional human homolog. Differential scanning calorimetry, fluorescence monitoring of thermal- and guanidine hydrochloride-induced unfolding and fluorescence quenching were used to show that the cold-adapted enzyme is characterized by a high activity at low temperatures, a low structural stability versus thermal and chemical denaturants and a greater structural permeability to a quenching agent relative to the mesophilic homolog. These findings support the hypothesis that cold-adapted enzymes maintain their activity at low temperatures as a result of increased global or local structural flexibility, which results in low stability. Analysis of the thermodynamic parameters of irreversible thermal unfolding suggests that entropy-driven factors are responsible for the fast unfolding rate of the cold-adapted aminopeptidase. A reduced number of proline residues, a lower degree of hydrophobic residue burial and a decreased surface accessibility of charged residues may be responsible for this effect. On the other hand, the reduction in enthalpy-driven interactions is the primary determinant of the weak conformational stability.