Structural elements of thermostability in the maltogenic amylase of Geobacillus thermoleovorans

Challenges and prospects of microbial α-amylases for industrial application: a review

α-Amylases are essential biocatalysts representing a billion-dollar market with significant long-term global demand. They have varied applications ranging from detergent, textile, and food sectors such as bakery to, more recently, biofuel industries. Microbial α-amylases have distinct advantages over their plant and animal counterparts owing to generally good activities and better stability at temperature and pH extremes. With the scope of applications expanding, the need for new and improved α-amylases is ever-growing. However, scaling up microbial α-amylase technology from the laboratory to industry for practical applications is impeded by several issues, ranging from mass transfer limitations, low enzyme yields, and energy-intensive product recovery that adds to high production costs. This review highlights the major challenges and prospects for the production of microbial α-amylases, considering the various avenues of industrial bioprocessing such as culture-independent approaches, nutrient optimization, bioreactor operations with design improvements, and product down-streaming approaches towards developing efficient α-amylases with high activity and recyclability. Since the sequence and structure of the enzyme play a crucial role in modulating its functional properties, we have also tried to analyze the structural composition of microbial α-amylase as a guide to its thermodynamic properties to identify the areas that can be targeted for enhancing the catalytic activity and thermostability of the enzyme through varied immobilization or selective enzyme engineering approaches. Also, the utilization of inexpensive and renewable substrates for enzyme production to isolate α-amylases with non-conventional applications has been briefly discussed.

Modifying the amino acids in conformational motion pathway of the α-amylase of Geobacillus stearothermophilus improved its activity and stability

Amino acids along the conformational motion pathway of the enzyme molecule correlated to its flexibility and rigidity. To enhance the enzyme activity and thermal stability, the motion pathway of Geobacillus stearothermophilus α-amylase has been identified and molecularly modified by using the neural relational inference model and deep learning tool. The significant differences in substrate specificity, enzymatic kinetics, optimal temperature, and thermal stability were observed among the mutants with modified amino acids along the pathway. Mutants especially the P44E demonstrated enhanced hydrolytic activity and catalytic efficiency (kcat/KM) than the wild-type enzyme to 95.0% and 93.8% respectively, with the optimum temperature increased to 90°C. This mutation from proline to glutamic acid has increased the number and the radius of the bottleneck of the channels, which might facilitate transporting large starch substrates into the enzyme. The mutation could also optimize the hydrogen bonding network of the catalytic center, and diminish the spatial hindering to the substrate entry and exit from the catalytic center.

Maltogenic amylase: Its structure, molecular modification, and effects on starch and starch-based products

Maltogenic amylase (MAA) (EC3.2.1.133), a member of the glycoside hydrolase family 13 that mainly produces α-maltose, is widely used to extend the shelf life of bread as it softens bread, improves its elasticity, and preserves its flavor without affecting dough processing. Moreover, MAA is used as an improver in flour products. Despite its antiaging properties, the hydrolytic capacity and thermal stability of MAA can't meet the requirements of industrial application. However, genetic engineering techniques used for the molecular modification of MAA can alter its functional properties to meet application-specific requirements. This review briefly introduces the structure and functions of MAA, its application in starch modification, its effects on starch-based products, and its molecular modification to provide better insights for the application of genetically modified MAA in starch modification.

Structure Prediction of a Thermostable SR74 α-Amylase from Geobacillus stearothermophilus Expressed in CTG-Clade Yeast Meyerozyma guilliermondii Strain SO

α-amylase which catalyzes the hydrolysis of α-1,4-glycosidic bonds in starch have frequently been cloned into various microbial workhorses to yield a higher recombinant titer. A thermostable SR74 α-amylase from Geobacillus stearothermophilus was found to have a huge potential in detergent industries due to its thermostability properties. The gene was cloned into a CTG-clade yeast Meyerozyma guilliermondii strain SO. However, the CUG ambiguity present in the strain SO has possibly altered the amino acid residues in SR74 amylase wild type (WT) encoded by CUG the codon from the leucine to serine. From the multiple sequence alignment, six mutations were found in recombinant SR74 α-amylase (rc). Their effects on SR74 α-amylase structure and function remain unknown. Herein, we predicted the structures of the SR74 amylases (WT and rc) using the template 6ag0.1.A (PDB ID: 6ag0). We sought to decipher the possible effects of CUG ambiguity in strain SO via in silico analysis. They are structurally identical, and the metal triad (CaI–CaIII) might contribute to the thermostability while CaIV was attributed to substrate specificity. Since the pairwise root mean square deviation (RMSD) between the WT and rc SR74 α-amylase was lower than the template, we suggest that the biochemical properties of rc SR74 α-amylase were better deduced from its WT, especially its thermostability.

Structural and functional consequences of replacement of His403 with Arg near the catalytic site of Anoxybacillus flavithermus cyclomaltodextrinase

The hydrolytic activity of a thermophilic cyclomaltodextrinase (CMD) from Anoxybacillus flavithermus ZNU-NGA and a representative single mutant were investigated against soluble substrates including α-, β- and γ-cyclomaltodestrines (CDs). Based on the occurrence of arginine (Arg) at position 403 in some homologue proteins, His⁴⁰³ in Wild-type (WT) CMD was replaced with Arg (H403R variant) with site-directed mutagenesis procedures. According to bioinformatics data, Arg⁴⁰³ in mutant protein is located near Glu³⁵⁷ as one of the catalytic residues in a manner that they are able to create a medium-range attractive electrostatistic interaction. Structural studies by Far UV-CD showed that this mutation is accompanied by conversion of a small fraction of α-helix to β-form structure. Fluorescence data reveals that, the hydrophobic regions at the surface of protein, as the binding sites for ANS (8-Anilinonaphthalene-1-sulfonic acid) increase in mutant protein, demonstrating relative inflation of H403R variant compared with WT protein. However, the polarity of microenvironment around chromophores did not change upon mutation. Activity measurement in different ranges of pH and temperatures showed that the optimum values of pH and temperature in mutant enzyme is the same as WT enzyme, however; the activity at optimum points increased in H403R variant. It was also revealed that the H403R variant had slightly improved catalytic efficiency for γ-CD. The same value of activation parameters for both protein variants indicates that mutation does not alter the mechanism of catalysis during enzyme-substrate formation.

Bacterial and Archaeal α-Amylases: Diversity and Amelioration of the Desirable Characteristics for Industrial Applications

Industrial enzyme market has been projected to reach US$ 6.2 billion by 2020. Major reasons for continuous rise in the global sales of microbial enzymes are because of increase in the demand for consumer goods and biofuels. Among major industrial enzymes that find applications in baking, alcohol, detergent, and textile industries are α-amylases. These are produced by a variety of microbes, which randomly cleave α-1,4-glycosidic linkages in starch leading to the formation of limit dextrins. α-Amylases from different microbial sources vary in their properties, thus, suit specific applications. This review focuses on the native and recombinant α-amylases from bacteria and archaea, their production and the advancements in the molecular biology, protein engineering and structural studies, which aid in ameliorating their properties to suit the targeted industrial applications.