Purification and Characterization of a Novel Hydrolase That Can Specifically Degrade the Polysaccharide Isolated from Green Seaweed Ulva prolifera

The extracellular polysaccharide hydrolase-producing strain EP-1 was isolated from seawater and identified as Paenibacillus pabuli. Furthermore, a homogeneous extracellular polysaccharide hydrolase from Paenibacillus pabuli EP-1 was purified by combining ion-exchange chromatography and size exclusion chromatography with a purification fold of 90.69 and recovery of 16.23%. Characterization of the purified polysaccharide hydrolase revealed a molecular mass of 38 kDa and optimum activity at 45⊥ and pH 6.0. The polysaccharide hydrolase maintained its stability within a wide range of pH (3.0-12.0) and thermal stability when the temperature was below 50⊥. The presence of Hg²⁺, Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺ and SDS notably decreased hydrolase activity, and organic solvents such as formaldehyde, acetone, DMF and acetonitrile completely inhibited hydrolase activity. The purified hydrolase had no activity on agar, carrageenan, gellan gum, sodium alginate, or starch, but effectively hydrolyzed the polysaccharide from Ulva prolifera. The K_m and V_max values of this hydrolase were 43.84 mg mL⁻¹ and 4.33 mg mL⁻¹ min⁻¹, respectively. The sequence analysis with quantitative time-of-flight mass spectrometry indicated that the hydrolase was an endoglucanase.