*Article* **Purification and Characterization of a Novel Alginate Lyase from the Marine Bacterium** *Bacillus* **sp. Alg07**

**Peng Chen 1,2, Yueming Zhu 1, Yan Men 1, Yan Zeng <sup>1</sup> and Yuanxia Sun 1,\***


Received: 9 February 2018; Accepted: 5 March 2018; Published: 9 March 2018

**Abstract:** Alginate oligosaccharides with different bioactivities can be prepared through the specific degradation of alginate by alginate lyases. Therefore, alginate lyases that can be used to degrade alginate under mild conditions have recently attracted public attention. Although various types of alginate lyases have been discovered and characterized, few can be used in industrial production. In this study, AlgA, a novel alginate lyase with high specific activity, was purified from the marine bacterium *Bacillus* sp. Alg07. AlgA had a molecular weight of approximately 60 kDa, an optimal temperature of 40 ◦C, and an optimal pH of 7.5. The activity of AlgA was dependent on sodium chloride and could be considerably enhanced by Mg2+ or Ca2+. Under optimal conditions, the activity of AlgA reached up to 8306.7 U/mg, which is the highest activity recorded for alginate lyases. Moreover, the enzyme was stable over a broad pH range (5.0–10.0), and its activity negligibly changed after 24 h of incubation at 40 ◦C. AlgA exhibited high activity and affinity toward poly-β-D-mannuronate (polyM). These characteristics suggested that AlgA is an endolytic polyM-specific alginate lyase (EC 4.2.2.3). The products of alginate and polyM degradation by AlgA were purified and identified through fast protein liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, which revealed that AlgA mainly produced disaccharides, trisaccharides, and tetrasaccharide from alginate and disaccharides and trisaccharides from polyM. Therefore, the novel lysate AlgA has potential applications in the production of mannuronic oligosaccharides and poly-α-L-guluronate blocks from alginate.

**Keywords:** alginate lyase; marine bacterium; *Bacillus* sp. Alg07; purification; alginate oligosaccharides
