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Journal of Biochemistry Advance Access published online on December 6, 2008
Journal of Biochemistry, doi:10.1093/jb/mvn162
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© The authors 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Japanese Biochemical Society. All rights reserved.

Molecular Characterization of Alanine Racemase in the Kuruma Prawn Marsupenaeus japonicus

Naoko Yoshikawa, Shigeru Okada and Hiroki Abe*

Department of Aquatic Bioscience, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8657

*To whom correspondence should be addressed: Hiroki Abe: Tel: +81-3-3301-4654, Fax: +81-3-5930-4658, E-mail: haabe{at}syd.odn.ne.jp

Received October 8, 2008; Accepted November 24, 2008


  Abstract

Aquatic crustaceans and some bivalve mollusks are known to contain copious amounts of free D-alanine in their tissues. For the first time in the animal kingdom, we have isolated a cDNA clone encoding alanine racemase from the muscle and hepatopancreas of the kuruma prawn Marsupenaeus japonicus. The recombinant enzyme expressed in Escherichia coli exhibited alanine recemase activity. The deduced amino acid sequence showed only 23-31% identity to bacterial alanine racemases. However, the active site residues and some residues that interact with pyridoxal 5'-phosphate were also conserved in M. japonicus enzyme. There was higher alanine racemase mRNA expression in hepatopancreas than in muscle. In contrast, the D-alanine content in hepatopancreas was lower than that in muscle, suggesting that the physiological functions of free D-alanine may differ among tissues. These data suggest that the alanine racemase gene has been conserved from bacteria to invertebrates throughout a long evolutionary time scale.

Key Words: alanine racemase, aquatic invertebrate, D-alanine, D-amino acid, Marsupenaeus japonicus

Note: The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences presented in this paper are available in the GenBank database under accession number AB097480.(These data will not be released until publication of this manuscript.)


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