Identification of a novel alkaline amylopullulanase from a gut metagenome of Hermetia illucens

A novel pullulanase gene, PulSS4, was identified from the gut microflora of Hermetia illucens by a function-based metagenome screening. The PulSS4 gene had an open reading frame of 4455 base pairs, and encoded a mature protein of 1484 amino acids, with a signal peptide sequence of 44 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of PulSS4 gene showed 51% identity with that of the amylopullulanase of Amphibacillus xylanus, exhibiting no significant sequence homology to already known pullulanases. A conserved domain analysis revealed it to be a pullulanase type II with respective active sites at the N-terminal pullulanase and C-terminal amylase domain. PulSS4 was active in the temperature range of 10-50 °C, with an optimum activity at 40 °C. It was active in the pH range of 6.5-10.5, with optimum pH at 9.0, and retained more than 80% of its original activity in a broad pH range of 5-11 for 24 h at 30 °C. Also, PulSS4 was highly stable against many different chemical reagents, including 10% polar organic solvents and 1% non-ionic detergents. Overall, PulSS4 is expected to have the strong potential for application in biotechnological industries that require high activity at moderate temperature and alkaline conditions.