Identification and Characterization of New Laccase Biocatalysts from Pseudomonas Species Suitable for Degradation of Synthetic Textile Dyes

Laccases are multicopper-oxidases with variety of biotechnological applications. While predominantly used, fungal laccases have limitations such as narrow pH and temperature range and their production via heterologous protein expression is more complex due to posttranslational modifications. In comparison, bacterial enzymes, including laccases, usually possess higher thermal and pH stability, and are more suitable for expression and genetic manipulations in bacterial expression hosts. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify, recombinantly express, and characterize novel laccases from Pseudomonas spp. A combination of approaches including DNA sequence analysis, N-terminal protein sequencing, and genome sequencing data analysis for laccase amplification, cloning, and overexpression have been used. Four active recombinant laccases were obtained, one each from P. putida KT2440 and P. putida CA-3, and two from P. putida F6. The new laccases exhibited broad temperature and pH range and high thermal stability, as well as the potential to degrade selection of synthetic textile dyes. The best performing laccase was CopA from P. putida F6 which degraded five out of seven tested dyes, including Amido Black 10B, Brom Cresol Purple, Evans Blue, Reactive Black 5, and Remazol Brilliant Blue. This work highlighted species of Pseudomonas genus as still being good sources of biocatalytically relevant enzymes