A Novel Metalloprotease from the Wild Basidiomycete Mushroom Lepista nuda

A 20.9-kDa metalloprotease was isolated from dried fruiting bodies of the wild basidiomycete mushroom Lepista nuda. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the protease was seen to be ATFVLTAATNTLFTA, thus displaying no similarity with the sequences of previously reported metalloproteases. The protease was purified using a procedure that entailed ion-exchange chromatography on CM-Cellulose, Q-Sepharose, and Mono S, and FPLC-gel filtration on Superdex 75. The protease functioned at an optimum pH of 7.0 and an optimum temperature of $50^{\circ}C$. It was also noted that the protease demonstrated a proteolytic activity of 1,756 U/mg toward casein. The $K_m$ of the purified protease toward casein was 6.36 mg/ml at a pH of 7.0 and with a temperature of $37^{\circ}C$, whereas the $V_{max}$ was 9.11 ${\mu}g\;ml^{-1}\;min^{-1}$. The activity of the protease was adversely affected by EDTA-2Na, suggesting that it is a metalloprotease. PMSF, EGTA, aprotinin, and leupeptin exerted no striking inhibitory effect. The activity of the protease was enhanced by $Fe^{2+}$, but was curtailed by $Cd^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Hg^{2+}$, $Pb^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, and $Fe^{2+}$ ions. The protease also exhibited inhibitory activity against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase with an $IC_{50}$ value of 4.00 ${\mu}M$. The $IC_{50}$ values toward hepatoma Hep G2 and leukemia L1210 cells in vitro were 4.99 ${\mu}M$ and 3.67 ${\mu}M$, respectively.