Cloning, characterization, and expression in Escherichia coli of a gene encoding Listeria seeligeri catalase, a bacterial enzyme highly homologous to mammalian catalases.

A gene coding for catalase (hydrogen-peroxide:hydrogen-peroxide oxidoreductase; EC 1.11.1.6) of the gram-positive bacterium Listeria seeligeri was cloned from a plasmid library of EcoRI-digested chromosomal DNA, with Escherichia coli DH5 alpha as a host. The recombinant catalase was expressed in E. coli to an enzymatic activity approximately 50 times that of the combined E. coli catalases. The nucleotide sequence was determined, and the deduced amino acid sequence revealed 43.2% amino acid sequence identity between bovine liver catalase and L. seeligeri catalase. Most of the amino acid residues which are involved in catalytic activity, the formation of the active center accession channel, and heme binding in bovine liver catalase were also present in L. seeligeri catalase at the corresponding positions. The recombinant protein contained 488 amino acid residues and had a calculated molecular weight of 55,869. The predicted isoelectric point was 5.0. Enzymatic and genetic analyses showed that there is most probably a single catalase of this type in L. seeligeri. A perfect 21-bp inverted repeat, which was highly homologous to previously reported binding sequences of the Fur (ferric uptake regulon) protein of E. coli, was detected next to the putative promoter region of the L. seeligeri catalase gene.