Streptomyces phospholipase D cloning and production.

The transphosphatidylation catalytic ability of phospholipase D (PLD, EC 3.1.4.4) is a powerful biochemical tool for the acquisition of rare phospholipids (PLs), e.g., phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and phosphatidylserine (PS), and artificial phospholipids, which do not occur in nature. Specifically, actinomycete PLD recognizes not only the alcohols (i.e., glycerol or serine) corresponding to the polar head groups of natural PLs, but also secondary alcohols, aromatic alcohols, saccharides, N-heterocyclic alcohols, and vitamins as acceptors. Therefore, actinomycete PLD is a valuable enzyme in food, cosmetics, fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Here, we describe a protocol for the screening for PLD-producing microorganisms, several PLD assays and methods of PLD production-purification and the strategy of cloning of the Streptomyces PLD gene.