A superoxide dismutase from the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus is an extracellular enzyme and prevents the deactivation by superoxide of cell-bound proteins.

An oxygen-induced iron superoxide dismutase was found in the culture fluid of the thermoacidophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus during growth on glucose-rich media. This protein was also identified as being associated with the cell-surface, with the amount of the released and cell-bound protein fractions depending on the growth phase of the cells. The steady decrease in cell-associated superoxide dismutase during continued growth correlated with the increase of free superoxide dismutase in the medium. Both enzyme fractions were purified to homogeneity and found to be active with different catalytic efficiency, with the released superoxide dismutase showing a fourfold lower specific activity. Characterization in comparison with the cytosolic superoxide dismutase revealed identical N-terminal sequences, electrophoretic mobility, isoelectric point, and molecular mass for all three differently located enzymes. In order to clarify the physiological role of the cell-associated superoxide dismutase, the prevention of cell-bound protein deactivation by oxyradicals was also investigated. Glucose dehydrogenase, which was chosen as a model enzyme, was demonstrated to be located on the cell surface and to be inactivated by potassium superoxide by in vivo assays. The direct protective effect of superoxide dismutase on glucose dehydrogenase was demonstrated by in vitro assays on the free released enzyme. Similarly, the prevention of deactivation by potassium superoxide was also demonstrated for the integral membrane protein succinate dehydrogenase by intact cell assay. Superoxide dismutase added to cells was shown to moderately reduce the critical damaging peroxidation and hence play a major role in maintaining the integrity of the outer cell envelope components.