Variability within the <i>Candida rugosa</i> Upases family

Abstract

Several fungi secrete lipase isozymes differing in biochemical properties and in some cases in substrate specificity. In the yeast Candida rugosa, a family of related genes encodes for multiple lipase proteins, highly homologous in sequence but partially different in the regions interacting with the substrate molecule. Analysis of these substitutions performed on the basis of multiple alignments and using a 3-D model of the enzyme, allows identification of a restricted number of amino acids possibly involved in substrate specificity of Candida lipases.