Biochemical Characterization and Complete Conversion of Coenzyme Specificity of Isocitrate Dehydrogenase from Bifidobacterium longum

Bifidobacterium longum is a very important gram-positive non-pathogenic bacterium in the human gastrointestinal tract for keeping the digestive and immune system healthy. Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) from B. longum (BlIDH), a novel member in Type II subfamily, was overexpressed, purified and biochemically characterized in detail. The active form of BlIDH was an 83-kDa homodimer. Kinetic analysis showed BlIDH was a NADP+-dependent IDH (NADP-IDH), with a 567- and 193-fold preference for NADP+ over NAD+ in the presence of Mg2+ and Mn2+, respectively. The maximal activity for BlIDH occurred at 60 °C (with Mn2+) and 65 °C (with Mg2+), and pH 7.5 (with Mn2+) and pH 8.0 (with Mg2+). Heat-inactivation profiles revealed that BlIDH retained 50% of maximal activity after incubation at 45 °C for 20 min with either Mn2+ or Mg2+. Furthermore, the coenzyme specificity of BlIDH can be completely reversed from NADP+ to NAD+ by a factor of 2387 by replacing six residues. This current work, the first report on the coenzyme specificity conversion of Type II NADP-IDHs, would provide better insight into the evolution of NADP+ use by the IDH family