The psychrophilic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas halosplanktis TAC125 possesses a gene coding for a cold-adapted feruloyl esterase activity that shares homology with esterase enzymes from gamma-proteobacteria and yeast.

The complete genome of the psychrophilic bacteria Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC 125, recently published, owns a gene coding for a putative esterase activity corresponding to the ORF PSHAa1385, also classified in the Carbohydrate Active Enzymes database (CAZY) belonging to family 1 of carbohydrate esterase proteins. This ORF is 843 bp in length and codes for a protein of 280 amino acid residues. In this study we characterized and cloned the PSHAa1385 gene in Escherichia coli. We also characterized the recombinant protein by biochemical and biophysical methodologies. The PSHAa1385 gene sequence showed a significant homology with several carboxyl-esterase and acetyl-esterase genes from gamma-proteobacteria genera and yeast. The recombinant protein exhibited a significant activity towards pNP-acetate, alpha-and beta-naphthyl acetate as generic substrates, and 4-methylumbelliferyl p-trimethylammonio cinnamate chloride (MUTMAC) as a specific substrate, indicating that the protein exhibits a feruloyl esterase activity that it is displayed by similar enzymes present in other organisms. Finally, a three-dimensional model of the protein was built and the amino acid residues involved in the catalytic function of the protein were identified.