Characterization of a novel isoflavone glycoside-hydrolyzing β-glucosidase from mangrove soil metagenomic library

Abstract For the beneficial pharmacological properties of isoflavonoids and their related glycoconjugates, there is increasingly interest in their enzymatic conversion. In this study, a novel β-glucosidase gene isolated from metagenomic library of mangrove sediment was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The purified recombination β-glucosidase, designated as r-Bgl66, showed high catalytic activity for soy isoflavone glycosides. It converted soy isoflavone flour extract with the productivities of 0.87 mM/h for daidzein, 0.59 mM/h for genistein and 0.42 mM/h for glycitein. The kcat/Km values for daidzin, genistin and glycitin were 208.73, 222.37 and 288.07 mM−1 s−1, respectively. In addition, r-Bgl66 also exhibited the characteristic of glucose-tolerance, and the inhibition constant Ki was 471.4 mM. These properties make it a good candidate in the enzymatic hydrolysis of soy isoflavone glycosides. This study also highlights the utility of metagenomic approach in discovering novel β-glucosidase for soy isoflavone glycosides hydrolysis.