Shrimp lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is induced in response to environmental hypoxia. Two protein subunits deduced from different transcripts of the LDH gene from the shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (LDHvan-1 and LDHvan-2) were identified. These subunits are expressed by alternative splicing. Since both subunits are expressed in most tissues, the purification of the enzyme from the shrimp will likely produce hetero LDH containing both subunits. Therefore, the aim of this study was to overexpress, purify and characterize only one subunit as a recombinant protein, the LDHvan-2. For this, the cDNA from muscle was cloned and overexpressed in E. coli as a fusion protein containing an intein and a chitin binding protein domain (CBD). The recombinant protein was purified by chitin affinity chromatography column that retained the CBD and released solely the full and active LDH. The active protein appears to be a tetramer with molecular mass of approximately 140 kDa and can use pyruvate or lactate as substrates, but has higher specific activity with pyruvate. The enzyme is stable between pH 7.0 to 8.5, and between 20 and 50 degrees C with an optimal temperature of 50 degrees C. Two pK(a) of 9.3 and 6.6, and activation energy of 44.8 kJ/mol degrees K were found. The kinetic constants K-m for NADH was 23.4 +/- 1.8 mu M, and for pyruvate was 203 +/- 25 mu M, while V-max was 7.45 mu mol/g protein. The shrimp LDH that is mainly expressed in shrimp muscle preferentially converts pyruvate to lactate and is an important enzyme for the response to hypoxia. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.