Arylsulfatase cloned from a marine aerobic Gram-negative bacterium, Pseudoalteromonas carrageenovora, was overexpressed in Escherichia coli with 10 muM IPTG induction. The expressed recombinant arylsulfatase was purified to homogeneity from the harvested cells through osmotic disruption and column chromatography methods. such as DEAE-cellulose anion exchange chromatography and Heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography. The purified arylsulfatase was kinetically characterized using the synthetic substrate of phenolic ester, p-nitrophenyl sulfate (pNPS). One unit of arylsulfatase catalyzes the liberation of 1.0 mumol p-nitrophenol from pNPS per minute. The purified enzyme has a specific activity of 468 U/mg with a purification yield of 27% from the cell lysate, and exhibited an estimated molecular mass of 33 kDa in SDS-PAGE analysis. The precursor polypeptide of 36 kDa was processed by releasing a putative signal peptide, and the mature arylsulfatase of 33.1 kDa with a Nil-terminal sequence of S-E-T-K-N was trafficked to periplasmic space. The enzyme had optimum reaction conditions for activity at pH 7.0 and at a temperature range of 40-45degreesC. The apparent K-M and k(cat) of the enzyme for hydrolysis of pNPS at pH 7.0 and at 45degreesC were determined to be 1.15 mM and 1000 s(-1), respectively. Based on inhibitor studies along with optimal pH values and preferential periplasmic location of the enzyme. we suggest that the recombinant arylsulfatase from P. carrageenovora is probably similar to the Klebsiella sulfatase with serine residue in the active site. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.