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The Antarctic microorganism Halorubrum lacusprofundi harbors a model polyextremophilic β-galactosidase that functions in cold, hypersaline conditions. Six amino acid residues potentially important for cold activity were identified by comparative genomics and substituted with evolutionarily conserved residues (N251D, A263S, I299L, F387L, I476V, and V482L) in closely related homologs from mesophilic haloarchaea. Using a homology model, four residues (N251, A263, I299, and F387) were located in the TIM barrel around the active site in domain A, and two residues (I476 and V482) were within coiled or β-sheet regions in domain B distant to the active site. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed by partial gene synthesis, and enzymes were overproduced from the cold-inducible cspD2 promoter in the genetically tractable Haloarchaeon, Halobacterium sp. NRC-1. Purified enzymes were characterized by …