Expression of a novel hyaluronidase from Streptococcus zooepidemicus in Escherichia coli and its application for the preparation of HA oligosaccharides

Hyaluronan (HA) oligosaccharides which can stimulate angiogenesis and suppress the growth of tumors have attracted more and more attention. In order to prepare pure and well-defined oligosaccharides from high-molecular-weight HA in a rapid and simple manner, an enzymatic degradation method was developed, which included degradation with a novel recombinant hyaluronan lyase (HA lyase, hyaluronidase, or HAase) and gel permeation chromatography. The HAase protein was expressed in Escherichia coli with the expression vector pBV220. The HAase was purified and refolded, and specific activity of the enzyme solution was 3800 U/mg. HA was degraded with HAase at the optimized conditions, yielding 46% and 31% of HA disaccharides and HA tetrasaccharides, respectively. These HA oligosaccharides were conveniently separated by consecutive column chromatography on Bio-gel P6 and were identified by HPLC–MS.