Construction of Xylose Dehydrogenase Displayed on the Surface of Bacteria Using Ice Nucleation Protein for Sensitive D-Xylose Detection

A novel method was developed to detect D-xylose (INS 967) sensitively and selectively, which is based on a xylose dehydrogenase (XDH) cell-surface displaying system using a newly identified ice nucleation protein from Pseudomonas borealis DL7 as an anchoring motif. With coenzyme NAD+, the XDH-displayed bacteria facilitates the catalysis of the oxidization of xylose and the resultant NADH can be detected spectrometrically at 340 nm. The fusion protein was characterized by proteinase accessibility, Western blot, and enzyme activity assays. The established XDH surface displaying system did not inhibit the growth of the recombinant Escherichia coli strain. The XDH was mainly displayed on the surface of host cells, which is of high XDH activity and high D-xylose specificity. The optimal temperature and pH of cell displayed XDH were found at 30 degrees C and pH 8.0, respectively. The XDH-displayed bacteria can be used directly without further enzyme extraction and purification, and it improved the stability of the enzyme. Moreover, the cell-surface-displayed-protein-based approach showed a wide linear range (5-900 mu M) and a low detection limit of 2 mu M of D-xylose. More importantly, the recombinant cells could be used for precise detection of D-xylose from the real samples such as foods and degradation products of lignocellulose. The method shown here provides a simple, rapid, and low-cost strategy for the sensitive and selective measurement of D-xylose. In addition, the XDH-displayed bacteria showed an interesting response in developing electrochemical biosensors. Thus, the genetically engineered cells may find broad application in such biosensors and biocatalysts. Similarly, this type of genetic approach may be used for the expression of other intracellular enzymes of interest for certain purposes.