Overexpression, purification and enzymatic characterization of a recombinant plastidial glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Nure) roots

The plastidial G6PDH encoding sequence from barley roots (Hordeum vulgare cv. Nure), devoid of a long plastidial transit peptide, was expressed as recombinant protein in Escherichia coli, either untagged or with an N-terminal his-tag. After purification from both the soluble fraction and inclusion bodies, we have explored its kinetic parameters, as well as its sensitivity to reduction.

In plant cells, the plastidial glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (P2-G6PDH, EC 1.1.1.49) represents one of the most important sources of NADPH. However, previous studies revealed that both native and recombinant purified P2-G6PDHs show a great instability and a rapid loss of catalytic activity. Therefore it has been difficult to describe accurately the catalytic and physico-chemical properties of these isoforms.