The identification, purification, and characterization of STXF10 expressed in Streptomyces thermonitrificans NTU-88

Biocatalytic properties and substrate-binding ability of a modular GH10 β-1,4-xylanase from an insect-symbiotic bacterium, Streptomyces mexicanus HY-14

The gene (1350-bp) encoding a modular β-1,4-xylanase (XylU), which consists of an N-terminal catalytic GH10 domain and a C-terminal carbohydrate-binding module 2 (CBM 2), from Streptomyces mexicanus HY-14 was cloned and functionally characterized. The purified His-tagged recombinant enzyme (rXylU, 44.0 kDa) was capable of efficiently hydrolyze diverse xylosidic compounds, p-nitrophenyl-cellobioside, and p-nitrophenyl-xylopyranoside when incubated at pH 5.5 and 65°C. Especially, the specific activities (649.8 U/mg and 587.0 U/mg, respectively) of rXylU toward oat spelts xylan and beechwood xylan were relatively higher than those (<500.0 U/mg) of many other GH10 homologs toward the same substrates. The results of enzymatic degradation of birchwood xylan and xylooligosaccharides (xylotriose to xylohexaose) revealed that rXylU preferentially hydrolyzed the substrates to xylobiose (>75%) as the primary degradation product. Moreover, a small amount (4%<) of xylose was detected as the degradation product of the evaluated xylosidic substrates, indicating that rXylU was a peculiar GH10 β-1,4-xylanase with substrate specificity, which was different from its retaining homologs. A significant reduction of the binding ability of rXylU caused by deletion of the C-terminal CBM 2 to various insoluble substrates strongly suggested that the additional domain might considerably contribute to the enzyme-substrate interaction.

Purification and characterization of a cellulolytic multienzyme complex produced by Neocallimastix patriciarum J11

Understanding the roles of the components of the multienzyme complex of the anaerobial cellulase system, acting on complex substrates, is crucial to the development of efficient cellulase systems for industrial applications such as converting lignocellulose to sugars for bioethanol production. In this study, we purified the multienzyme complex of Neocallimastix patriciarum J11 from a broth through cellulose affinity purification. The multienzyme complex is composed of at least 12 comprised proteins, based on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Eight of these constituents have demonstrated β-glucanase activity on zymogram analysis. The multienzyme complex contained scaffoldings that respond to the gathering of the cellulolytic components. The levels and subunit ratio of the multienzyme complex from N. patriciarum J11 might have been affected by their utilized carbon sources, whereas the components of the complexes were consistent. The trypsin-digested peptides of six proteins were matched to the sequences of cellulases originating from rumen fungi, based on identification through liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, revealing that at least three types of cellulase, including one endoglucanase and two exoglucanases, could be found in the multienzyme complex of N. patriciarum J11. The cellulolytic subunits could hydrolyze synergistically on both the internal bonds and the reducing and nonreducing ends of cellulose. Based on our research, our findings are the first to depict the composition of the multienzyme complex produced by N. patriciarum J11, and this complex is composed of scaffoldin and three types of cellulase.

Identification of proteins involved in starch and polygalacturonic acid degradation using LC/MS

Plant biomass in the form of cheap wastes, such as straw, corn stalks, wood chips, sawdust, bagasse, pomace, etc., is abundant throughout the world. To convert these wastes into the useful value-added compounds microbial enzymes are the preferred choice. In this paper, we identify enzymes involved in the degradation of starch and polygalacturonic acid using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry based analysis. We analysed total protein from soil and compost samples. Extracellular proteins from enrichment cultures were analysed in parallel and used as controls in the sample preparation and identification of proteins. In general, both protein sequence coverage and the number of identified peptides were higher in the samples obtained from the enrichment cultures than from the total protein from soil and compost. The influence of the nature of gel (zymography vs. SDS/polyacrylamide) was negligible. Thus, starch and polygalacturonic acid degradation associated proteins can be directly excised from the zymograms without the need to align zymograms with the SDS/polyacrylamide gels. A range of starch and polygalacturonic acid degradation associated enzymes were identified in both total protein samples and extracellular proteins from the enrichment cultures. Our results show that proteins involved in starch and polygalacturonic acid degradation can be identified by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry from the complex protein mixtures both with and without cultivation of microorganism

Characterization of two truncated forms of xylanase recombinantly expressed by Lactobacillus reuteri with an introduced rumen fungal xylanase gene

The xylanase R8 gene (xynR8) from uncultured rumen fungi was cloned and successfully expressed in Lactobacillus reuteri. A xylanase activity of 132.1 U/mL was found in the broth of L. reuteri R8, the transformant containing pNZ3004 vector with xynR8 gene insertion. Two distinct forms of recombinant xylanase with different hydrophobicities and molecular weights were found in the broth after purification. According to the results of Western blotting, only the T7-tag, fused in the N-terminus of XynR8, could be bound to the expressed proteins, which indicated that the C-terminus of XynR8 had been truncated. These results, combined with tryptic digestion and mass spectrometry analyses, allow us to attribute the two xylanase forms to an optional cleavage of C-terminal sequences, and XynR8A, a 13 amino acid residues truncated form, and XynR8B, a 22 amino acid residues truncated form, were the main products in the extracellular fraction of L. reuteri R8. The specific activities of XynR8A and R8B were 1028 and 395 U/mg protein. Both forms of recombinant xylanase displayed a typical endoxylanase activity when they were reacted with xylan, but XynR8A demonstrated a better specific activity, catalytic efficiency and thermostability than XynR8B according to the results of enzyme characterization. These changes in enzyme properties were highly possibly caused by the present of the β-sheet in the C-terminal undeleted fragment of XynR8A. This study demonstrates that modified forms with different enzyme properties could be produced when a gene was recombinantly expressed by a L. reuteri transformant.

Cloning and characterization of a thermostable and pH-stable cellobiohydrolase from Neocallimastix patriciarum J11

An 1888-bp cDNA designated celA, isolated from a cDNA library of Neocallimastix patriciarum J11 was cloned. The celA had an open reading frame of 1530 bp encoding J11 CelA of 510 amino acids. The primary structure analysis of J11 CelA revealed a complete cellulose-binding domain at the N-terminal, followed by an Asn, Ala, Gly, Gln and Pro-rich linker and ending with a C-terminal glycosyl hydrolase family 6 catalytic domain. The mature J11 CelA was overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. This enzyme had high specific activities towards barley β-glucan and lichenan, low toward carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Avicel, and H3PO4-swollen Avicel (PSA). The product of Avicel hydrolysis was cellobiose indicating that J11 CelA is a typical cellobiohydrolase. The recombinant J11 CelA had an optimal pH of 6.0 and was stable over a wide range of pH (5.2-11.3). The enzyme showed an optimal temperature of 50°C and was still maintained approximately 50% of the maximum activity in response to the treatment at 70°C for 1h. Cobalt and Fe(3+) at 1 mM greatly activated the enzyme activity. As a thermostable and pH stable enzyme with crystalline cellulose-degrading activity, J11 CelA is a potential candidate for the bioethanol industry.

Molecular characterization of a cold-active recombinant xylanase from Flavobacterium johnsoniae and its applicability in xylan hydrolysis

A novel xylanase gene, xyn10A, was cloned from Flavobacterium johsoniae, overexpressed in a flavobacterial expression system, the recombinant enzyme purified by Ni-affinity chromatography, and enzyme structure and activity analyzed. Xyn10A was found to be a modular xylanase with an Fn3 accessory domain on its N-terminal and a catalytic region on the C-terminal. The optimum pH and temperature for Xyn10A was 8.0 and 30 °C, but Xyn10A retained 50% activity at 4 °C, indicating that Xyn10A is a cold-active xylanase. A Fn3-deletion xylanase had relative activity ca. 3.6-fold lower than the wild-type, indicating that Fn3 promotes xylanase activity. The Fn3 region also contributed to stability of the enzyme at elevated temperatures. However, Fn3 did not bind this xylanase to insoluble substrates. The enzyme hydrolyzed xylo-oligosaccharides into xylobiose, and xylose with xylobiose as the main product, confirming that Xyn10A is a strict endo-β-1,4-xylanase. Xyn10A also hydrolyzed birchwood and beechwood xylan to yield mainly xylose, xylobiose and xylotriose.

Structural modeling and further improvement in pH stability and activity of a highly-active xylanase from an uncultured rumen fungus

Rumen fungi are a rich source of enzymes degrading lignocelluloses. XynR8 is a glycosyl hydrolase family 11 xylanase previously cloned from unpurified rumen fungal cultures. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that xynR8 was obtained from a Neocallimastix species. Recombinant XynR8 expressed in Escherichia coli was highly active and stable between pH 3.0 and 11.0, and displayed a V(max) of 66,672μmolmin(-1)mg(-1), a k(cat) of 38,975s(-1), and a K(m) of 11.20mg/mL towards soluble oat spelt xylan. Based on molecular modeling, residues N41 and N58, important in stabilizing two loops and the structure of XynR8, were mutated to D. Both mutant enzymes showed higher tolerance to pH 2.0. The V(max), k(cat) and K(m) of the N41D and N58D mutant enzymes were 79,645μmolmin(-1)mg(-1), 46,493s(-1), 29.29mg/mL, and 96,689μmolmin(-1)mg(-1), 56,503s(-1), and 21.24mg/mL, respectively. Thus, they are good candidates for application, including biofuel production.

Catalytic efficiency diversification of duplicate β-1,3-1,4-glucanases from Neocallimastix patriciarum J11

Four types of β-1,3-1,4 glucanase (β-glucanase, EC 3.2.1.73) genes, designated bglA13, bglA16, bglA51, and bglM2, were found in the cDNA library of Neocallimastix patriciarum J11. All were highly homologous with each other and demonstrated a close phylogenetic relationship with and a similar codon bias to Streptococcus equinus. The presence of expansion and several predicted secondary structures in the 3' untranslated regions (3'UTRs) of bglA16 and bglM2 suggest that these two genes were duplicated recently, whereas bglA13 and bglA16, which contain very short 3'UTRs, were replicated earlier. These findings indicate that the β-glucanase genes from N. patriciarum J11 may have arisen by horizontal transfer from the bacterium and subsequent duplication in the rumen fungus. β-Glucanase genes of Streptococcus equinus, Ruminococcus albus 7, and N. patriciarum J11 were cloned and expressed by Escherichia coli. The recombinant β-glucanases cloned from S. equinus, R. albus 7, and N. patriciarum J11 were endo-acting and had similar substrate specificity, but they demonstrated different properties in other tests. The specific activities and catalytic efficiency of the bacterial β-glucanases were also significantly lower than those of the fungal β-glucanases. Our results also revealed that the activities and some characteristics of enzymes were changed during the horizontal gene transfer event. The specific activities of the fungal β-glucanases ranged from 26,529 to 41,209 U/mg of protein when barley-derived β-glucan was used as the substrate. They also demonstrated similar pH and temperature optima, substrate specificity, substrate affinity, and hydrolysis patterns. Nevertheless, BglA16 and BglM2, two recently duplicated β-glucanases, showed much higher k(cat) values than others. These results support the notion that duplicated β-glucanase genes, namely, bglA16 and bglM2, increase the reaction efficiency of β-glucanases and suggest that the catalytic efficiency of β-glucanase is likely to be a criterion determining the evolutionary fate of duplicate forms in N. patriciarum J11.

Purification and characterization of two thermostable xylanases from Malbranchea flava active under alkaline conditions

Two xylanases, MFX I and MFX II, from the thermophilic fungus Malbranchea flava MTCC 4889 with molecular masses of 25.2 and 30kDa and pIs of 4.5 and 3.7, respectively were purified to homogeneity. The xylanases were optimally active at pH 9.0 and at 60 degrees C, exhibited a half-life of 4h at 60 degrees C, and showed distinct mode of action and product profiles when applied to birchwood, oat spelt, and larchwood xylan, and to wheat and rye arabinoxylan. The xylanases were most active on larchwood xylan with K(m) values of 1.25 and 3.7mg/ml. K(cat)/K(m) values suggested that the xylanases preferentially hydrolyzed rye arabinoxylan. LC-MS/MS (liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry) analysis of tryptic digests of MFX I and MFX II revealed similarity with known fungal xylanases and suggests that that they belonged to the GH 11 and 10 glycosyl hydrolase super families, respectively. These xylanases can potentially be used in enzyme-assisted bleaching of the pulp derived from agro-residues, as well as production of xylooligosaccharides for pre-biotic functional food applications.

Low catalyst loadings for the production of carboxylic acids from polysaccharides and hydrogen peroxide

The oxidation of starch, xylans, potato flesh and wheat flour by H(2)O(2), in the presence of MSO(4) (M=Cu, Fe) as catalyst, led to depolymerization, and formation of solutions containing polyhydroxycarboxylic acids. Some of these oxidized compounds facilitate the process, leading to efficient transformations even with very low amounts of catalyst.