Biochemical properties and substrate specificity of lipase from Staphylococcus aureus B56

A lipase of Staphylococcus aureus B56 was purified from a culture supernatant and its molecular weight was estimated to be 45 kDa by SDS-PAGE. The optimum temperature and pH for the hydrolysis of olive oil was 42°C and pH 8-8.5, respectively. The enzyme was stable up to 55°C in the presence of Ca++ at pHs 5-11. The lipase gene was cloned using the PCR amplification method. The sequence analysis showed an open reading frame of 2,076 bp, which encoded a preproenzyme of 691 amino acids. The preproenzyme was composed of a signal sequence (37 aa), propeptide (255 aa), and mature enzyme (399 aa). Based on a sequence comparison, lipase B56 constituted of a separate subgroup among the staphylococcal lipase groups, such as S. aureus PS54 and S. haemolyticus L62 lipases, and was distinct from other lipases in their optimum pH and substrate specificity.