Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) that catalyzes the reversible phosphorolysis of various purine nucleosides is widely distributed in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Four pnp genes from Bacillus subtilis 168, Escherichia coli K-12 and Pseudoalteromonas sp. XM2107 were cloned by PCR and expressed in E. coli XL1-Blue. Recombinant PNPs (rPNPs) were purified by Ni2+-NTA chromatography. Compared with other rPNPs, PNP816 was a low-molecular-mass homotrimer, which exhibited 11-, 4- and 1.5-fold higher values in k(cat)/K-m using inosine as the substrate at 37 degrees C. The PNP816 or engineered strain XBlue (pQE-816) had a higher catalytic activity than other rPNPs or engineered strains during the enzymatic synthesis of ribavirin, which suggested that the low-molecular-mass homotrimer derived from microorganisms has higher catalytic activity for synthesis of nucleoside antiviral drugs.