Gene cloning and characterization of a novel salt-tolerant and glucose-enhanced β-glucosidase from a marine streptomycete

Multipurpose cellulases of Promicromonospora sp. VP111, with broad substrate specificity and tolerance properties

Cellulolytic actinobacterium, Promicromonospora sp. VP111 concomitantly produced cellulases (CELs), xylanase and pectinase when grown on commercial cellulose and untreated agricultural lignocellulosic residues (wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse). Secreted CELs hydrolyzed (enhanced with Co²⁺ ion) multiple cellulosic substrates, including sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (Na-CMC), Whatman filter paper no. 1, microcrystalline cellulose (avicel), p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (pNPG), laminarin, and cellulose powder. The CELs showed stabilities in the presence of various chemicals, including glucose (0.2 M), detergents (1%, w/v or v/v), denaturants (1%, w/v or v/v), and sodium chloride (NaCl, 30%, w/v). The CELs were fractionated using ammonium sulfate precipitation and dialysis. Activities (%) of fractionated CELs were retained at 60°C for endoglucanase/carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) (88.38), filter paper cellulase (FPase) (77.55), and β-glucosidase (90.52), which indicated of thermo-stability. Similarly, the activities (%) for CMCase (85.79), FPase (82.48), and β-glucosidase (85.92) at pH 8.5 indicated of alkaline-stability. Kinetic factors, K_m and V_max for endoglucanase component of fractionated CELs were 0.014 g/l and 158.23 µM glucose/min/mL, respectively. Fractionated CELs yielded activation energies (kJ/mol) of 17.933, 6.294, and 4.207 for CMCase, FPase, and β-glucosidase activities, respectively in linear thermostable Arrhenius plots. Thus, this study reports on the multipurpose CELs from an untreated agricultural residue utilizing Promicromonospora in relation to broad substrate specificity, halo-tolerance, alkaline-tolerance, detergent-tolerance, thermo-tolerance, organic solvent-tolerance, and end product-tolerance.

Characterization of a novel recombinant halophilic β-glucosidase of Trichoderma harzianum derived from Hainan mangrove

BACKGROUND

β-glucosidase is an important biomass-degrading enzyme and plays a vital role in generating renewable biofuels through enzymatic saccharification. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptome of Trichoderma harzianum HTASA derived from Hainan mangrove and identified a new gene encoding β-glucosidase Bgl3HB. And the biochemically characterization of β-glucosidase activity was performed.

RESULTS

Bgl3HB showed substantial catalytic activity in the pH range of 3.0-5.0 and at temperatures of 40 ℃-60 ℃. The enzyme was found quite stable at 50 ℃ with a loss of only 33.4% relative activity after 240 min of heat exposure. In addition, all tested metal ions were found to promote the enzyme activity. The β-glucosidase activity of Bgl3HB was enhanced by 2.12-fold of its original activity in the presence of 5 M NaCl. Surprisingly, Bgl3HB also showed a remarkable ability to hydrolyze laminarin compared to other measured substrates. Enzyme efficiency was examined in the sugarcane bagasse saccharification processes, in which Bgl3HB with 5 M NaCl worked better supplementing Celluclast 1.5L than the commercial Novozyme 188 ascertained it as an admirably suited biocatalyst for the utilization of agricultural waste. In this work, this is the first report of a halophilic β-glucosidase from Trichoderma harzianum, and represents the β-glucosidase with the highest known NaCl activation concentration. And adding 5 M NaCl could enhance saccharification performance even better than commercial cellulase.

CONCLUSIONS

These results show that Bgl3HB has great promise as a highly stable and highly efficient cellulase with important future applications in the industrial production of biofuels.

Novel β-Glucosidase Mibgl3 from Microbacterium sp. XT11 with Oligoxanthan-Hydrolyzing Activity

The enzymatic pathway of xanthan depolymerization has been predicted previously; however, the β-glucosidase and unsaturated glucuronyl hydrolase in this system have not been cloned and characterized. This lack of knowledge hinders rational modification of xanthan and exploration of new applications. In this work, we report on the properties of Mibgl3, a xanthan-degrading enzyme isolated from Microbacterium sp. XT11. Mibgl3 exhibits typical structural features of the GH3 family but shares low sequence identity with reported GH3 enzymes. The activity of Mibgl3 can be inhibited by Cu²⁺, Fe²⁺, Zn²⁺, and glucose. Unlike most β-glucosidases, Mibgl3 can tolerate a wide pH range and is activated by high concentrations of NaCl. This improves the commercial value of Mibgl3. In particular, Mibgl3 exhibits higher substrate specificity toward oligoxanthan than other β-glucosidases. Ion chromatography, ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS), and GC-MS results showed that Mibgl3 could effectively hydrolyze oligoxanthan to release glucose and glucuronate. Therefore, Mibgl3 might play an important role in xanthan depolymerization by functioning as hydrolase of both the xanthan backbone and sidechains. This knowledge of the enzymatic properties and hydrolysis mechanism of a β-glucosidase will be beneficial for future applications.

Use of a purified β-glucosidase from coral-associated microorganisms to enhance wine aroma

BACKGROUND

β-Glucosidases (3.2.1.21) play essential roles in the removal of nonreducing terminal glucosyl residues from saccharides and glycosides. However, the full potential and different applications of recombinant high-yield microbial β-glucosidase-producing systems remain to be tackled.

RESULTS

A β-glucosidase gene designated as Mg132 was isolated from a coral microorganism by high-throughput sequencing and functional screening. The deduced amino acid sequences of Mg132 showed a highest identity of 97% with β-glucosidase predicted in the GenBank database. This gene was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) for the first time. The optimal pH and temperature of purified recombinant Mg132 were 8.0 and 50 °C respectively. It exhibited a high level of stability at high concentration of glucose and ethanol, and glucose concentrations below 300 mmol L^-1 distinctly stimulated p-nitrophenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside hydrolysis, reaching 200% at 15% ethanol. The K_m and V_max values were 0.293 mmol L^-1 and 320 μmol min^-1  mg^-1 respectively while using p-nitrophenyl-β-d-glucopyranoside as a substrate. Wine treated with Mg132 had an obvious positive catalytic specificity for glycosides, which give a pleasant flavor of temperate fruity and floral aromas. The total concentration of fermentative volatiles was 201.42 ± 10.22 μg L^-1 following Mg132 treatment and 99.21 ± 7.72 μg L^-1 in control samples.

CONCLUSION

Good tolerance of winemaking and aroma fermentative properties suggest that Mg132 has potential application in aroma enhancement in wine and warrants further study. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Salt-tolerant and thermostable mechanisms of an endoglucanase from marine Aspergillus niger

The cellulase cocktail of marine Aspergillus niger exhibited salt-tolerant and thermostable properties, which is of great potential in industrial application. In order to excavate the single tolerant cellulase components from complex cellulase cocktail, constitutive homologous expression was employed for direct obtainment of the endoglucanase (AnEGL). Enzymatic property study revealed that AnEGL exhibited a property of salt tolerance and a strong thermostability in high salinity environment. Significantly, its activity increased to 129% and the half-life at 65 °C increased to 27.7-fold with the presence of 4.5 M NaCl. Molecular dynamics simulation revealed that Na+ and Cl- could form salt bridges with charged residues, and then influenced the activity of loops and the stability of substrate binding pocket, which accounted for the salt tolerance and thermostability. Further, site-specific mutagenesis study proved that the residues Asp95 and Asp99 in the pocket were of great concern for the tolerant properties. The salt-tolerant and thermostable AnEGL was of great value in lignocellulosic utilization and the conjectural mechanisms were of referential significance for other tolerant enzymes.

A Novel Neutral and Mesophilic β-Glucosidase from Coral Microorganisms for Efficient Preparation of Gentiooligosaccharides

β-glucosidases can produce gentiooligosaccharides that are lucrative and promising for the prebiotic and alternative food industries. However, the commercial production of gentiooligosaccharides using β-glucosidase is challenging, as this process is limited by the need for high thermal energy and increasing demand for the enzyme. Here, a putative β-glucosidase gene, selected from the coral microbial metagenome, was expressed in Escherichia coli. Reverse hydrolysis of glucose by Blg163 at pH 7.0 and 40 °C achieved a gentiooligosaccharide yield of 43.02 ± 3.20 g·L⁻¹ at a conversion rate of 5.38 ± 0.40%. Transglycosylation of mixed substrates, glucose and cellobiose, by Blg163 consumed 21.6 U/0.5 g glucose/g cellobiose, achieving a gentiooligosaccharide yield of 70.34 ± 2.20 g·L⁻¹ at a conversion rate of 15.63%, which is close to the highest yield reported in previous findings. Blg163-mediated synthesis of gentiooligosaccharides is the mildest reaction and the lowest β-glucosidase consumption reported to date.

High Diversity of β-Glucosidase-Producing Bacteria and Their Genes Associated with Scleractinian Corals

β-Glucosidase is a microbial cellulose multienzyme that plays an important role in the regulation of the entire cellulose hydrolysis process, which is the rate-limiting step in bacterial carbon cycling in marine environments. Despite its importance in coral reefs, the diversity of β-glucosidase-producing bacteria, their genes, and enzymatic characteristics are poorly understood. In this study, 87 β-glucosidase-producing cultivable bacteria were screened from 6 genera of corals. The isolates were assigned to 21 genera, distributed among three groups: Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria. In addition, metagenomics was used to explore the genetic diversity of bacterial β-glucosidase enzymes associated with scleractinian corals, which revealed that these enzymes mainly belong to the glycosidase hydrolase family 3 (GH3). Finally, a novel recombinant β-glucosidase, referred to as Mg9373, encompassing 670 amino acids and a molecular mass of 75.2 kDa, was classified as a member of the GH3 family and successfully expressed and characterized. Mg9373 exhibited excellent tolerance to ethanol, NaCl, and glucose. Collectively, these results suggest that the diversity of β-glucosidase-producing bacteria and genes associated with scleractinian corals is high and novel, indicating great potential for applications in the food industry and agriculture.

Characterization of a GH3 halophilic β-glucosidase from Pseudoalteromonas and its NaCl-induced activity toward isoflavones

A novel β-glucosidase gene was isolated from Pseudoalteromonas sp. GXQ-1 and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. The activity of the encoded enzyme, PABGL, toward p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside was increased 8.74-fold by the presence of 3 M NaCl relative to the absence of added NaCl. PABGL hydrolyzed a variety of soy isoflavone substrates. For the conversion of daidzin to daidzein, the production rate was 1.44 mM/h. The addition of NaCl enhanced the hydrolytic activity of PABGL toward daidzin and genistein; the maximum activation by NaCl was 3.48- and 6.79-fold, respectively. This is the first report of a halophilic β-glucosidase from Pseudoalteromonas spp., and represents the β-glucosidase with the highest multiple of activation by NaCl. PABGL exhibits strong potential for applications in food processing and industrial production.

A Novel High Glucose-Tolerant β-Glucosidase: Targeted Computational Approach for Metagenomic Screening

The rate-limiting component of cellulase for efficient degradation of lignocellulosic biomass through the enzymatic route depends on glucosidase’s sensitivity to the end product (glucose). Therefore, there is still a keen interest in finding glucose-tolerant β-glucosidase (BGL) that is active at high glucose concentrations. The main objective of this study was to identify, isolate, and characterize novel highly glucose-tolerant and halotolerant β-glucosidase gene (PersiBGL1) from the mixed genome DNA of sheep rumen metagenome as a suitable environment for efficient cellulase by computationally guided experiments instead of costly functional screening. At first, an in silico screening approach was utilized to find primary candidate enzymes with superior properties. The structure-dependent mechanism of glucose tolerance was investigated for candidate enzymes. Among the computationally selected candidates, PersiBGL1 was cloned, isolated, and structurally characterized, which achieved very high activity in relatively high temperatures and alkaline pH and was successfully used for the hydrolysis of cellobiose. This enzyme exhibits a very high glucose tolerance, with the highest inhibition constant K_i (8.8 M) among BGLs reported so far and retained 75% of its initial activity in the presence of 10 M glucose. Furthermore, a group of multivalent metal, including Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Ca²⁺, as a cofactor, could improve the catalytic efficiency of PersiBGL1. Our results demonstrated the power of computational selected candidates to discover novel glucose tolerance BGL, effective for the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass.

A Novel Glucose-Tolerant GH1 β-Glucosidase and Improvement of Its Glucose Tolerance Using Site-Directed Mutation

A novel GH1 β-glucosidase gene (bgla) from marine bacterium was sequenced and expressed in Escherichia coli. After purification by Ni²⁺ affinity chromatography, the recombinant protein was characterized. The purified recombinant enzyme showed maximum activity at 40 °C, pH 7.5 and was stable between temperatures that range from 4 to 30 °C and over the pH range of 6-10. The enzyme displayed a high tolerance to glucose and maximum stimulation at the presence of 100 mM glucose. To improve glucose tolerance of the enzyme, a site-directed mutation (f171w) was introduced into β-glucosidase. The recombinant F171W showed a higher glucose tolerance than the wild type and maintained more than 40% residual activity at the presence of 4 M glucose. Additionally, the recombinant enzymes showed notable tolerance to ethanol. These properties suggest the enzymes may have potential applications for the fermentation of lignocellulosic sugars and the production of biofuels.

Recombinant Penicillium oxalicum 16 β-Glucosidase 1 Displays Comprehensive Inhibitory Resistance to Several Lignocellulose Pretreatment Products, Ethanol, and Salt

β-Glucosidase (BGL) is a rate-limiting enzyme of lignocellulose hydrolysis for second-generation bioethanol production, but its inhibition by lignocellulose pretreatment products, ethanol, and salt is apparent. Here, the recombinant Penicillium oxalicum 16 BGL 1 (rPO16BGL1) from Pichia pastoris GS115 kept complete activity at 0.2-1.4 mg/mL furan derivatives and phenolic compounds, 50 mg/mL sodium chloride (potassium chloride), or 100 mg/mL ethanol at 40 °C. rPO16BGL1 retained above 50% residual activity at 30 mg/mL organic acid sodium, and 60% residual activity at 40 °C with 300 mg/mL ethanol. Sodium chloride and potassium chloride had a complicated effect on rPO16BGL1, which resulted in activation or inhibition. The inhibition kinetics of the enzyme reaction demonstrated that organic acids and organic acid sodium were non-competitive inhibitors and that ethanol was a competitive inhibitor at < 1.5 mg/mL salicin. Moreover, substrate inhibition of the enzyme was found at > 2 mg/mL salicin, and the Km/KI and Km/KSI average values revealed that the inhibitory strength was ranked as salicin-organic acids > organic acids > salicin-organic acid sodium salt > organic acid sodium salt > salicin > salicin-KCl > salicin-NaCl > salicin-ethanol > ethanol.

Efficient Enzyme-Assisted Extraction and Conversion of Polydatin to Resveratrol From Polygonum cuspidatum Using Thermostable Cellulase and Immobilized β-Glucosidase

Resveratrol, a bioactive compound in high quantities in Polygonum cuspidatum, has well-known health benefits. However, it mainly exists in its glycosidic form, polydatin, in plants. To increase the production of resveratrol for various uses in medicine, foods, and cosmetics, an efficient deglycosylation technique is needed for converting polydatin into resveratrol. We screened a new cellulolytic strain of Bacillus from herb compost, and we optimized parameters within the fermentation process using response surface methodology with a Box-Behnken design. The yield of cellulase reached 2701.08 U/L, corresponding to values that were 5.4 times as high as those under unoptimized conditions. The Bacillus cellulase possessed good thermostablity and was stable under both acidic and neutral conditions. The cellulase was then used in the pretreatment of P. cuspidatum root. After incubation at 50°C for 4 h with shaking at 150 rpm, the contents of piceid and resveratrol were determined to be 7.60 ± 0.15 and 9.72 ± 0.29 mg/g, respectively. To obtain complete deglycosylation, immobilized β-glucosidase (bgl2238) was added to the cellulase-treated extracts of P. cuspidatum root to convert residual polydatin into resveratrol. After the first cycle, the contents of piceid and resveratrol were determined to be 0 and 13.69 ± 0.30 mg/g, respectively. Moreover, enzyme activity showed little loss during up to 4 consecutive cycles. These results demonstrated that the immobilized β-glucosidase possessed high deglycosylation activity and outstanding operational stability. The mixture of Bacillus cellulase and immobilized bgl2238 appears promising as a means to increase the supply of resveratrol in the medicine market worldwide.

Overexpression and characterization of a novel cold-adapted and salt-tolerant GH1 β-glucosidase from the marine bacterium Alteromonas sp. L82

A novel gene (bgl) encoding a cold-adapted β-glucosidase was cloned from the marine bacterium Alteromonas sp. L82. Based on sequence analysis and its putative catalytic conserved region, Bgl belonged to the glycoside hydrolase family 1. Bgl was overexpressed in E. coli and purified by Ni²⁺ affinity chromatography. The purified recombinant β-glucosidase showed maximum activity at temperatures between 25°C to 45°C and over the pH range 6 to 8. The enzyme lost activity quickly after incubation at 40°C. Therefore, recombinant β-glucosidase appears to be a cold-adapted enzyme. The addition of reducing agent doubled its activity and 2 M NaCl did not influence its activity. Recombinant β-glucosidase was also tolerant of 700 mM glucose and some organic solvents. Bgl had a K_m of 0.55 mM, a V_max of 83.6 U/mg, a k_cat of 74.3 s^-1 and k_cat/K_m of 135.1 at 40°C, pH 7 with 4-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside as a substrate. These properties indicate Bgl may be an interesting candidate for biotechnological and industrial applications.

Bioprospecting of novel thermostable β-glucosidase from Bacillus subtilis RA10 and its application in biomass hydrolysis

BACKGROUND

Saccharification is the most crucial and cost-intensive process in second generation biofuel production. The deficiency of β-glucosidase in commercial enzyme leads to incomplete biomass hydrolysis. The decomposition of biomass at high temperature environments leads us to isolate thermotolerant microbes with β-glucosidase production potential.

RESULTS

A total of 11 isolates were obtained from compost and cow dung samples that were able to grow at 50 °C. On the basis of qualitative and quantitative estimation of β-glucosidase enzyme production, Bacillus subtilis RA10 was selected for further studies. The medium components and growth conditions were optimized and β-glucosidase enzyme production was enhanced up to 19.8-fold. The β-glucosidase from B. subtilis RA10 retained 78% of activity at 80 °C temperature and 68.32% of enzyme activity was stable even at 50 °C after 48 h of incubation. The supplementation of β-glucosidase from B. subtilis RA10 into commercial cellulase enzyme resulted in 1.34-fold higher glucose release. Furthermore, β-glucosidase was also functionally elucidated by cloning and overexpression of full length GH1 family β-glucosidase gene from B. subtilis RA10. The purified protein was characterized as thermostable β-glucosidase enzyme.

CONCLUSIONS

The thermostable β-glucosidase enzyme from B. subtilis RA10 would facilitate efficient saccharification of cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugar. Consequently, after saccharification, thermostable β-glucosidase enzyme would be recovered and reused to reduce the cost of overall bioethanol production process.

When substrate inhibits and inhibitor activates: implications of β-glucosidases

BACKGROUND

β-glucosidases (BGs) catalyze the hydrolysis of β-glycosidic bonds in glucose derivatives. They constitute an important group of enzymes with biotechnological interest like supporting cellulases in degradation of lignocellulose to fermentable sugars. In the latter context, the glucose tolerant BGs are of particular interest. These BGs often show peculiar kinetics, including inhibitory effects of substrates and activating effects of inhibitors, such as glucose or xylose. The mechanisms behind the activating/inhibiting effects are poorly understood. The nonproductive binding of substrate is expected in cases where enzymes with multiple consecutive binding subsites are studied on substrates with a low degree of polymerization. The effects of inhibitors to BGs exerting nonproductive binding of substrate have not been discussed in the literature before.

RESULTS

Here, we performed analyses of different reaction schemes using the catalysis by retaining BGs as a model. We found that simple competition of inhibitor with nonproductive binding of substrate can account for the activation of enzyme by inhibitor without involving any allosteric effects. The transglycosylation to inhibitor was also able to explain the activating effect of inhibitor. For both mechanisms, the activation was caused by the increase of k_cat with increasing inhibitor concentration, while k_cat/K_m always decreased. Therefore, the activation by inhibitor was more pronounced at high substrate concentrations. The possible contribution of the two mechanisms in the activation by inhibitor was dependent on the rate-limiting step of glycosidic bond hydrolysis as well as on whether and which glucose-unit-binding subsites are interacting.

CONCLUSION

Knowledge on the mechanisms of the activating/inhibiting effects of inhibitors helps the rational engineering and selection of BGs for biotechnological applications. Provided that the catalysis is consistent with the reaction schemes addressed here and underlying assumptions, the mechanism of activation by inhibitor reported here is applicable for all enzymes exerting nonproductive binding of substrate.

Production of Enzymes from Marine Actinobacteria

Marine actinobacteria are well recognized for their capabilities to produce valuable natural products, which have great potential for applications in medical, agricultural, and fine chemical industries. In addition to producing unique enzymes responsible for biosynthesis of natural products, many marine actinobacteria also produce hydrolytic enzymes which are able to degrade various biopolymers, such as cellulose, xylan, and chitin. These enzymes are important to produce biofuels and biochemicals of interest from renewable biomass. In this chapter, the recent reports of novel enzymes produced by marine actinobacteria are reviewed, and advanced technologies that can be applied to search for novel marine enzymes as well as for improved enzyme production by marine actinobacteria are summarized, which include ribosome engineering, genome mining, as well as synthetic biology studies.

Improvements in Glucose Sensitivity and Stability of Trichoderma reesei β-Glucosidase Using Site-Directed Mutagenesis

Glucose sensitivity and pH and thermal stabilities of Trichoderma reesei Cel1A (Bgl II) were improved by site-directed mutagenesis of only two amino acid residues (L167W or P172L) at the entrance of the active site. The Cel1A mutant showed high glucose tolerance (50% of inhibitory concentration = 650 mM), glucose stimulation (2.0 fold at 50 mM glucose), and enhanced specific activity (2.4-fold) compared with those of the wild-type Cel1A. Furthermore, the mutant enzyme showed stability at a wide pH range of 4.5–9.0 and possessed high thermal stability up to 50°C with 80% of the residual activities compared with the stability seen at the pH range of 6.5–7.0 and temperatures of up to 40°C in the wild-type Cel1A. Kinetic studies for hydrolysis revealed that the Cel1A mutant was competitively inhibited by glucose at similar levels as the wild-type enzyme. Additionally, the mutant enzyme exhibited substrate inhibition, which gradually disappeared with an increasing glucose concentration. These data suggest that the glucose stimulation was caused by relieve the substrate inhibition in the presence of glucose. To conclude, all the properties improved by the mutagenesis would be great advantages in degradation of cellulosic biomass together with cellulases.

Isolation of salt stress-related genes from Aspergillus glaucus CCHA by random overexpression in Escherichia coli

The halotolerant fungus Aspergillus glaucus CCHA was isolated from the surface of wild vegetation around a saltern with the salinity range being 0–31%. Here, a full-length cDNA library of A. glaucus under salt stress was constructed to identify genes related to salt tolerance, and one hundred clones were randomly selected for sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. Among these, 82 putative sequences were functionally annotated as being involved in signal transduction, osmolyte synthesis and transport, or regulation of transcription. Subsequently, the cDNA library was transformed into E. coli cells to screen for putative salt stress-related clones. Five putative positive clones were obtained from E. coli cells grown on LB agar containing 1 M NaCl, on which they showed rapid growth compared to the empty vector control line. Analysis of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana lines overexpressing CCHA-2142 demonstrated that the gene conferred increased salt tolerance to plants as well by protecting the cellular membranes, suppressing the inhibition of chlorophyll biosynthesis. These results highlight the utility of this A. glaucus cDNA library as a tool for isolating and characterizing genes related to salt tolerance. Furthermore, the identified genes can be used for the study of the underlying biology of halotolerance.

Microorganisms living on macroalgae: diversity, interactions, and biotechnological applications

Marine microorganisms play key roles in every marine ecological process, hence the growing interest in studying their populations and functions. Microbial communities on algae remain underexplored, however, despite their huge biodiversity and the fact that they differ markedly from those living freely in seawater. The study of this microbiota and of its relationships with algal hosts should provide crucial information for ecological investigations on algae and aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, because these microorganisms interact with algae in multiple, complex ways, they constitute an interesting source of novel bioactive compounds with biotechnological potential, such as dehalogenases, antimicrobials, and alga-specific polysaccharidases (e.g., agarases, carrageenases, and alginate lyases). Here, to demonstrate the huge potential of alga-associated organisms and their metabolites in developing future biotechnological applications, we first describe the immense diversity and density of these microbial biofilms. We further describe their complex interactions with algae, leading to the production of specific bioactive compounds and hydrolytic enzymes of biotechnological interest. We end with a glance at their potential use in medical and industrial applications.

Product inhibition of cellulases studied with 14C-labeled cellulose substrates

BACKGROUND

As a green alternative for the production of transportation fuels, the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose and subsequent fermentation to ethanol are being intensively researched. To be economically feasible, the hydrolysis of lignocellulose must be conducted at a high concentration of solids, which results in high concentrations of hydrolysis end-products, cellobiose and glucose, making the relief of product inhibition of cellulases a major challenge in the process. However, little quantitative information on the product inhibition of individual cellulases acting on cellulose substrates is available because it is experimentally difficult to assess the hydrolysis of the heterogeneous polymeric substrate in the high background of added products.

RESULTS

The cellobiose and glucose inhibition of thermostable cellulases from Acremonium thermophilum, Thermoascus aurantiacus, and Chaetomium thermophilum acting on uniformly 14C-labeled bacterial cellulose and its derivatives, 14C-bacterial microcrystalline cellulose and 14C-amorphous cellulose, was studied. Cellulases from Trichoderma reesei were used for comparison. The enzymes most sensitive to cellobiose inhibition were glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 7 cellobiohydrolases (CBHs), followed by family 6 CBHs and endoglucanases (EGs). The strength of glucose inhibition followed the same order. The product inhibition of all enzymes was relieved at higher temperatures. The inhibition strength measured for GH7 CBHs with low molecular-weight model substrates did not correlate with that measured with 14C-cellulose substrates.

CONCLUSIONS

GH7 CBHs are the primary targets for product inhibition of the synergistic hydrolysis of cellulose. The inhibition must be studied on cellulose substrates instead of on low molecular-weight model substrates when selecting enzymes for lignocellulose hydrolysis. The advantages of using higher temperatures are an increase in the catalytic efficiency of enzymes and the relief of product inhibition.