Table 10.

Biochemical properties of selected L-arginine decarboxylases of freshwater and marine cyanobacteria, and their similarity to L-arginine decarboxylases from E. coli.

Strain	Database entry	AA	MM (kDa)	pI	Group III decarboxylase: E. coli P28629 (biodegradable type) 755 aa; 84.4 kDa; pI 5.12	Group IV decarboxylase: E. coli P21170 (biosynthetic type) 658 aa; 73.9 kDa; pI 4.83
					Score vs. P28629	Score vs. P21170
Yellow cluster decarboxylases
Synechococcus sp. RS9917	RS9917_01007	470	50.4	9.64	19	8
Prochlorococcus marinus str. NATL2A	PMN2A_0665	464	51.5	8.57	11	5
Prochlorococcus marinus SS120	Pro1112	440	48.5	5.32	19	5
Synechococcus sp. WH 8102	SYNW0994	468	50.6	6.95	18	10
Blue cluster decarboxylases
Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803	Sll1683	483	51.8	5.44	24	8
Gloeobacter violaceus PCC 7120	Gll3487	467	49.4	6.39	25	8
Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1	Tlr1866	437	46.6	5.22	22	5
Anabaena variabilis ATCC 2941	Ava_2157	488	52.0	5.34	26	7
Green cluster decarboxylases
Prochlorococcus marinus MED4	PMM0045	488	50.01	5.34	3	32
Prochlorococcus marinus str. MIT 9313	PMT2150	648	71.3	5.31	7	35
Prochlorococcus marinus SS120	Pro0049	648	72.4	6.44	3	32
Synechococcus sp. WH 7805	WH7805_10353	636	69.9	5.24	7	36
Prochlorococcus marinus str. MIT 9211	P9211_08607	648	72.2	6.00	4	33
Red cluster decarboxylases
Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803	Slr0662 Slr1312	695 659	78.2 74.5	5.08 5.30	4 4	38 36
Nostoc sp. PCC 7120	All3401	671	75.7	5.25	9	37
Anabaena variabilis ATCC 2941	Ava_3423	671	75.7	5.25	9	37
Gloeobacter violaceus PCC 7120	Gll4070	644	72.7	5.10	7	38

P28629 represents a biodegradable and inducible L-arginine decarboxylase (group III); P21270 represents a biosynthetic and constitutively expressed L-arginine decarboxylase (group IV) in E. coli [26]. Score values were calculated with the ClustalW software [62]. The L-arginine decarboxylases in the yellow, blue, green, and red cluster are identical to those L-arginine decarboxylases given in Fig. 3.