Structure and dynamics analysis of a family 43 glycoside hydrolase α-L-arabinofuranosidase (PsGH43_12) from Pseudopedobacter saltans by computational modeling and small-angle X-ray scattering

Exploring the role of microbial proteins in controlling environmental pollutants based on molecular simulation

Molecular simulation has been widely used to study microbial proteins' structural composition and dynamic properties, such as volatility, flexibility, and stability at the microscopic scale. Herein, this review describes the key elements of molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in molecular simulation; reviews the techniques combined with molecular simulation, such as crystallography, spectroscopy, molecular biology, and machine learning, to validate simulation results and bridge information gaps in the structure, microenvironmental changes, expression mechanisms, and intensity quantification; illustrates the application of molecular simulation, in characterizing the molecular mechanisms of interaction of microbial proteins with four different types of contaminants, namely heavy metals (HMs), pesticides, dyes and emerging contaminants (ECs). Finally, the review outlines the important role of molecular simulations in the study of microbial proteins for controlling environmental contamination and provides ideas for the application of molecular simulation in screening microbial proteins and incorporating targeted mutagenesis to obtain more effective contaminant control proteins.

Arabinan hydrolysis by GH43 enzymes of Hungateiclostridium clariflavum and the potential synergistic mechanisms

Glycoside hydrolase family 43 (GH43) represents a major source of arabinan- and arabinoxylan-active enzymes. Interestingly, some microbes remarkably enriched GH genes of this family, with the reason unknown. Hungateiclostridium clariflavum DSM 19,732 is an efficient lignocellulose degrader, which harbors up to 7 GH43 genes in its genome. We cloned three of the seven GH43 genes, and found that Abn43A is a unique endoarabinanase, which unprecedently showed approximately two times larger activity on sugar beet arabinan (116.8 U/mg) than that on linear arabinan, and it is efficient in arabinooligosaccharide production. Abn43B is an exoarabinanase which directly releases arabinose from linear arabinan. Abn43C is an α-L-arabinofuranosidase which is capable of splitting the arabinose side-chains from arabinooligosaccharides, arabinoxylooligosaccharides, and arabinoxylan. Most importantly, the three GH43 enzymes synergized in hydrolyzing arabinan. Compared to Abn43B alone, a supplement of Abn43A increased the arabinose production from linear arabinan by 150%, reaching 0.44 g/g arabinan. Moreover, an addition of Abn43C to Abn43A and Abn43B boosted the arabinose production from sugar beet arabinan by 15 times, reaching 0.262 g/g arabinan. Our work suggested the intensified functions of multiple GH43 enzymes toward arabinan degradation in H. clariflavum, and a potential synergetic mechanism among the three GH43 enzymes is suggested. KEY POINTS: • Endoarabinanase GH43A prefers branched substrate to linear one • Exoarabinanase GH43B can directly release arabinose from linear arabinan • The three GH43 enzymes synergized in arabinan hydrolysis.

Structural insights of a putative β-1,4-xylosidase (PsGH43F) of glycoside hydrolase family 43 from Pseudopedobacter saltans

Structural and conformational insights of a putative β-1,4-xylosidase (PsGH43F) of glycoside hydrolase family 43 from Pseudopedobacter saltans were investigated by computational and Circular Dichroism (CD) analyses. PsGH43F was cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) cells and the purified enzyme gave the size ~50 kDa on SDS-PAGE analysis. Multiple Sequence Alignment of PsGH43F sequence followed by superposition of modeled structure with homologous structures displayed the presence of three conserved catalytic amino acid residues, Asp33, Asp149 and Glu212. The secondary structure analysis by CD showed 2.72 % α-helix and 36.06 % β-strands. The homology modeled structure of PsGH43F displayed a 5-bladed β-propeller fold for catalytic module at N-terminal and a β-sandwich structure for CBM6 at the C-terminal. Ramachandran plot displayed 99.5 % of residues in the allowed regions. MD simulation of PsGH43F revealed the compactness and stability of the structure. Molecular docking studies of PsGH43F with xylo-oligosaccharides revealed its maximum binding affinity for xylobiose. MD simulation of PsGH43F-xylobiose complex confirmed the increased structural and conformational stability in presence of substrate. The Hydrodynamic diameter analysis of PsGH43F by DLS was in the range, 0.25-0.28 μm.

Understanding the Xylooligosaccharides Utilization Mechanism of Lactobacillus brevis and Bifidobacterium adolescentis: Proteins Involved and Their Conformational Stabilities for Effectual Binding

Xylooligosaccharides having various degrees of polymerization such as xylobiose, xylotriose, and xylotetraose positively affect human health by interacting with gut proteins. The present study aimed to identify proteins present in gut microflora, such as xylosidase, xylulokinase, etc., with the help of retrieved whole-genome annotations and find out the mechanistic interactions of those with the above substrates. The 3D structures of proteins, namely Endo-1,4-beta-xylanase B (XynB) from Lactobacillus brevis and beta-D-xylosidase (Xyl3) from Bifidobacterium adolescentis, were computationally predicted and validated with the help of various bioinformatics tools. Molecular docking studies identified the effectual binding of these proteins to the xylooligosaccharides, and the stabilities of the best-docked complexes were analyzed by molecular dynamic simulation. The present study demonstrated that XynB and Xyl3 showed better effectual binding toward Xylobiose with the binding energies of - 5.96 kcal/mol and - 4.2 kcal/mol, respectively. The interactions were stabilized by several hydrogen bonding having desolvation energy (- 6.59 and - 7.91). The conformational stabilities of the docked complexes were observed in the four selected complexes of XynB-xylotriose, XynB-xylotetraose, Xyl3-xylobiose, and Xyn3-xylotriose by MD simulations. This study showed that the interactions of these four complexes are stable, which means they have complex metabolic activities among each other. Extending these studies of understanding, the interaction between specific probiotics enzymes and their ligands can explore the detailed design of synbiotics in the future.

Molecular modification, structural characterization, and biological activity of xylans

The differences in the source and structure of xylans make them have various biological activities. However, due to their inherent structural limitations, the various biological activities of xylans are far lower than those of commercial drugs. Currently, several types of molecular modification methods have been developed to address these limitations, and many derivatives with specific biological activity have been obtained. Further research on structural characteristics, structure-activity relationship and mechanism of action is of great significance for the development of xylan derivatives. Therefore, the major molecular modification methods of xylans are introduced in this paper, and the primary structure and conformation characteristics of xylans and their derivatives are summarized. In addition, the biological activity and structure-activity relationship of the modified xylans are also discussed.