Purification, biochemical characterization and dye decolorization capacity of an alkali-resistant and metal-tolerant laccase from Trametes pubescens

Extracellular laccase (Tplac) from Trametes pubescens was purified to homogeneity by a three-step method, which resulted in a high specific activity of 18.543 U mg−1, 16.016-fold greater than that of crude enzyme at the same level. Tplac is a monomeric protein that has a molecular mass of 68 kDa. The enzyme demonstrated high activity toward 1.0 mM ABTS at an optimum pH of 5.0 and temperature of 50 °C, and under these conditions, the catalytic efficiency (kcat/Km) is 8.34 s−1 μM−1. Tplac is highly stable and resistant under alkaline conditions, with pH values ranging from 7.0 to 10.0. Interestingly, above 88% of initial enzyme activity was maintained in the presence of metal ions at 25.0 mM, leading to an increase in substrate affinity, which indicated that the laccase is highly metal-tolerant. These unusual properties demonstrated that the new fungal laccase Tplac has potentials for the specific industrial or environmental applications.