Characterization of 4-guanidinobutyrase from Aspergillus niger

Arginase is the only fungal ureohydrolase that is well documented in the literature. More recently, a novel route for agmatine catabolism in Aspergillus niger involving another ureohydrolase, 4-guanidinobutyrase (GBase), was reported. We present here a detailed characterization of A. niger GBase - the first fungal (and eukaryotic) enzyme to be studied in detail. A. niger GBase is a homohexamer with a native molecular weight of 336 kDa and an optimal pH of 7.5. Unlike arginase, the Mn2+ enzyme from the same fungus, purified GBase protein is associated with Zn2+ ions. A sensitive fluorescence assay was used to determine its kinetic parameters. GBase acted 25 times more efficiently on 4-guanidinobutyrate (GB) than 3-guanidinopropionic acid (GP). The Km for GB was 2.7 +/- 0.4 mM, whereas for GP it was 53.7 +/- 0.8 mM. While GB was an efficient nitrogen source, A. niger grew very poorly on GP. Constitutive expression of GBase favoured fungal growth on GP, indicating that GP catabolism is limited by intracellular GBase levels in A. niger. The absence of a specific GPase and the inability of GP to induce GBase expression confine the fungal growth on GP. That GP is a poor substrate for GBase and a very poor nitrogen source for A. niger offers an opportunity to select GBase specificity mutations. Further, it is now possible to compare two distinct ureohydrolases, namely arginase and GBase, from the same organism.