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Effect of Temperature on Histidine Ammonia-Lyase from a Psychrophile, Pseudomonas putida

Bacteriology Research Laboratory, Veterans Administration Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa 52240

ABSTRACT

Pseudomonas putida was able to grow at 0 C in a complex medium containing L-histidine and to synthesize histidine ammonia-lyase and urocanase. The activity of the former enzyme was assessed between –10 and 60 C in cells and in cell extracts. Activity was maximal from 20 to 35 C. Below 20 C, activity decreased with temperature but, significantly, the enzyme exhibited 30% of its maximal activity at 1.5 C. The temperature response was similar in both intact cells and cell extracts, which indicated that the cell membrane did not significantly limit the entry of histidine at low temperature. Above and below the maximal temperature range, the reduced activity was not caused by irreversible inactivation, as shown by preincubation experiments. Also, when the temperature was rapidly changed from 60 to 30 C during an assay, the reaction rate increased abruptly to the full 30 C activity without a lag. This demonstrated the rapid reversibility of inactivation. The apparent Michaelis constant increased with temperature. As the substrate concentration was decreased, the enzyme activity became less dependent on temperature. The efficiency of substrate entry and catalysis near 0 C are factors in the ability of this facultative psychrophile to grow in a histidine medium at 0 C.