Biochemical properties of a novel metalloprotease from Staphylococcus hyicus subsp. hyicus involved in extracellular lipase processing.

Two extracellular proteases from Staphylococcus hyicus subsp. hyicus, ShpI and ShpII, have been characterized. ShpI is a neutral metalloprotease with broad substrate specificity; the gene has been cloned and sequenced. ShpII, characterized here, is mainly produced in the late logarithmic growth phase in contrast to ShpI, which is mainly produced in the late stationary growth phase. ShpII was purified from culture medium of S. hyicus by ammonium sulfate precipitation and DEAE-Sepharose chromatography. The molecular mass, estimated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was 34 kDa. The temperature optimum of ShpII was 55 degrees C, and the pH optimum was 7.4. ShpII, a neutral metalloprotease, was strongly inhibited by zinc and calcium chelators. The amino-terminal sequence of the active enzyme was similar to the corresponding region of a Staphylococcus epidermidis metalloprotease. The substrate specificity of ShpII was similar to that of thermolysin-like proteases, with the exception that ShpII also recognized aromatic amino acids. We demonstrated in vitro that ShpII, but not ShpI, cleaved the 86-kDa S. hyicus subsp. hyicus prolipase between Thr-245 and Val-246 to generate the mature 46-kDa lipase. Results of additional in vivo experiments supported the model that ShpII is necessary for the extracellular processing and maturation of S. hyicus subsp. hyicus lipase.