Structure and activity of malate dehydrogenase from the extreme halophilic bacteria of the Dead Sea. 1. Conformation and interaction with water and salt between 5 M and 1 M NaCl concentration.

Large-scale growth of extreme halophilic bacteria from the Dead Sea and purification of malate dehydrogenase (and other proteins) in quantities of hundreds of milligrams makes possible a detailed study of the adaptation to high salt. Halophilic malate dehydrogenase is stable at 20 degrees C in NaCl solutions between 2.5--5 M. Below 2.5 M NaCl time-dependent inactivation, paralleled by structural changes, sets in. Within the time scale of the sedimentation, diffusion and circular dichroism experiments discussed here, it was possible to analyze data corresponding to the active halophilic malate dehydrogenase between 1 M and 5 M NaCl. The striking observation was that rather minor conformation changes were observed over the whole range, yet the special properties of the halophilic enzyme seem to be related to its capacity of associating with unusually large amounts of water and of salts, quite distinct from non-halophilic counterparts. These special properties seem to be related to the intact structure of the protein. Some parallel properties of halophilic glutamate dehydrogenase are also discussed.